Thousands of Nigerians are fleeing a northeastern city amid conflicting reports that it has been seized by Boko Haram Islamic extremists, a federal senator said Tuesday, according to Reuters.
The military claims to have repelled the insurgents in fierce fighting but the stream of refugees from the city indicates otherwise, said Sen. Ali Ndume, who is from Borno state, Reuters reported.
It would be a major victory for the militants if Boko Haram wins control of Bama, the second largest city in Borno state, according to Reuters.
That would leave the way open to attack the Borno state capital of Maiduguri that is also the military headquarters of the fight against Boko Haram, Reuters reported. Ndume said Bama is 45 miles from Maiduguri and has a population of about 200,000 people.
Residents reported Monday that the rebels had taken the military barracks in Bama, but the military said they had fought off the attackers, according to Reuters.
Sen. Ndume said that was why the air force bungled a bombing raid Tuesday on the barracks, killing an unknown number of soldiers and civilians who had taken shelter there, Reuters reported.
Boko Haram has declared an Islamic caliphate in overrun villages in eastern Borno, according to Reuters.
The group attracted international criticism for its mass kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls who remain captive, Reuters reported. Boko Haram wants to enforce an Islamic state in all of Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation of some 170 million people divided almost equally between a predominantly Muslim north and mainly Christian south.
The Nigerian government's military-focused campaign against the Islamic militants has failed and its international allies should try to help Nigeria focus on another strategy, said a report released Tuesday by Chatham House, a British institute for international relations, according to Reuters.
"The failure of emergency rule to contain and impede Boko Haram violence clearly shows that the military option with an absolute focus on the violent destruction of Boko Haram is not tenable and an alternative must be sought," said the report, Reuters reported.
