Boko Haram overtakes, seizes Nigerian police academy
The Islamic militant group Boko Haram seized a Nigeria police academy located in Gwoza as their violence spreads across the African nation. “Several hundred” terrorists stormed the Liman Kara police college with tanks, bombing the campus to gain entry.
A local police spokesman confirmed the attack on the Liman Kara police college, noting communication with the school has been unavailable since Wednesday. The school has five units in training, each unit with approximately 60 trainees.
Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram leader, shown in a YouTube video
Casualty figures were not available, but the New York-based news website Sahara Reporters said numerous trainees were killed or injured, and some escaped.
The sources told Sahara Reporters that the college had five units of police officers in training at the time of today’s attack. One source disclosed that each unit had 59 trainees and a unit commander. Among the units in residence at the college were two mobile police (MOPOL) units from Nasarawa and Gombe States and a mobile police unit from Abuja. Two other units from Zamfara State were also at the college during the attack.
Nigerian soldiers do not have the resources to battle the extremist group. One source said, “Some of the soldiers complain that their weapons do not match those of Boko Haram.”
Nigerian President has faced criticism from Nigerians as well as world leaders for failing to curb Boko Haram’s violence.
The terrorist organization made global headlines during the summer after kidnapping over 200 women. While there was public outcry, little has been done to curb the spread of violence which has extended to Chad and Cameroon.
Cameroon has now stationed 3,000 troops at the Nigerian border to protect its citizens.
Issa Tchiroma, Cameroonian Minister of Information spokesman said, “We have mobilized all our security and defense forces and the government will leave no stone unturned in the fighting [against Boko Haram] to bring them down.”
“The problem is we are fighting an asymmetric battle. Nobody knows who is Boko Haram exactly, they have very much infiltrated here and there, [and] it is impossible to know when they will attack.”
A long history of reporting on The Dispatch covering the violent acts of Boko Haram can be found HERE
