FOR the past 6 years, Nigeria security forces have been at was  with Boko Haram. The military have been entangled in this warfare with the insurgents. Prior to 2015, the military were overwhelmed in the battle against Boko Haram due to poor drymoury, low or no financial motivation and corruption at the top level. But 2015 has been some what of a Blessing to Nigeria and her forces in the fight against Boko Haram.
2015 has brought a shift in the tide, as troops that formerly ran from Boko Haram now have them on the run, and at the moment are even combing the terrorists group Sambisa Forest to rid it of the insurgents.
On Tuesday 28th April 2015, the army rescued close to 300 women (these included 200 girls and 93 women) from Sambisa Forest, which served as the den of the terrorists group and said they would be screened to determine if the abducted Chibok girls were among those rescued.
On the 29th of April 2015, the military said several field commanders of Boko Haram terrorists group had been destroyed in Sambisa Forest.
Acting Director Public Relations of the Nigerian Army, Colonel Sani Usman disclosed the Breakthroughs. He said troops had also rescued additional women and children and they had been taken to safety zone.
“Troops of 7 Division Nigerian Army cleared several terrorists ‘ strong points and training camps within Sambisa Forest, Borno State, Nigeria. They troops have also rescued additional women and children. They troops have been evacuated to a safety zone for further processing,” Usman said.
The Army’s spokeman added a soldier died and four others were injured in the operation.
He said armoured vehicles and ammunitions were also recovered from the terrorists.
The troops rescued about 160 more hostages from Boko Haram’s Sambisa Forest stronghold the army told newsmen on Thursday 30th April 2015.
This rescue brought the number of females declared rescued  that week to more than 677.
“Another set of 234 women and children were rescued through the Kawuri and Konduga end of the #Sambisa Forest on Thursday,” said a message on the official Twitter account of the Nigerian Defense Headquarters Posted early that Saturday.
It came as the army deployed ground troops following weeks of punishing air raid  on the Sambisa Forest.
The federal government said on Thursday April 30th that the forest was the last holdout of the Islamic militants and he pledged to “hand over a Nigeria completely free of terrorist strongholds.”
It is not known how many girls, women, Boys and men Boko Haram has kidnapped during its nearly 6-year-old rebellion. Nigeria’s army has reported rescuing only females.
The Associated Press has reported that some women shut at their rescuers and were killed, with Boko Haram using them as an armed human shield for its main fighting force.
Boko Haram continues  to attack isolated places. The governor of a province in Niger had ordered residents of Lake Chad to evacuated by Monday 6th may 2015, when a government official said troops will flush the militants from hideouts.
A Boko Haram attack on Karamga island in Lake Chad a week Before, left 156 militants 46 Niger soldiers and 28 civilians dead, Niger’s government said.
The military said it had flown in medical and intelligence teams to screen the girls and women and find out their identities. Army spokesman Col. Sani Usman said most were traumatized.
It is still not known if any are the students kidnapped from a Boarding school in Chibok town a year ago.
A counsellor who has helped rehabilitate other women held captive by Boko Haram told newsmen that some identified with insurgents’ extremist ideology  after months of captivity  and forced marriages. It remains unclear if some of the women held willingly joined Boko Haram or are family members of fighters.
Book Haram began kidnapping civilians after the military detained the wives and children of several militant leaders. They were freed amid failed peace negotiations in 2013.
Some of the freed women and girls are pregnant, Muhammed Gavi, a spokesman for a self –defense group that fights Boko Haram, said citing information from group members who have seen the females.
Amnesty International  called on authories “to ensure that the trauma of these ‘rescued’ is not exacerbated by lengthy security screening in detention”.
The military on Friday 1st May released photos of about 20 subdue-looking children and women they said were taken between Tuesday 28th April and Thursday 30th April in Sambisa Forest. They looked generally healthy. But at least one child looked emaciated and some children the orange- colored hair signaling severe malnutrition.
A young military medic with blue rubber glovers and a surgical mask appears to be checking several children.
On Tuesday 5th May 2015, soldiers from the 81 battalion of the Nigerian Army, Ibadan, who were ordained to move from their location in Section 8, Maiduguri, were ambushed by Boko Haram militants, killing one soldier and injured three others in the process.
Investigations revealed that the insurgents ambushed the troops while they were on their way to Sambisa Forest to reinforce military presence in the area.
An intelligence personnel said that soldiers killed an unspecified number of the insurgents in a gun duel.
Troops killed 28 suspected militants during a weekend operation in Central Nigeria launched in response to an attack last month, which saw 6 soldiers gruesomely murdered, the military said on Monday 4th of May.
The violence occurred on the Border Between Plateau and Taraba States, an area plagues by waves of sectarian violence seen as separate from Boko Haram, although the Islamist insurgents have claimed past attacks in the region.
“In our effort to rid the border communities… of incessant killings and Brigandage, there was an exchange of fire between troops and militiamen in which lives were lost, “Military spokesman Ikedchi Iwela told newsmen, referring to the unrest the Saturday before.
“Twenty-eight members of the militid groups lost their lives, one soldier was injured while another is still missing following the battle,” he said.
Iwela said the offensive in the districts of Wase and lantang was launched in response to an April 28 attract by militants on troops operating in the area.
“They killed the soldiers took away their arms, gorged out their eyes, cut their tongues and decapitated their bodies in a most horrible manner,” he said.
He fiercely denied accusations circulating in local media that the troops went on a rampage, indiscriminately firing on defenceless civilians in a retaliation for the six soldiers’ gory death.
Plateau State government spokesman Pam Ayuba, said locals on his side of the border were angry their community was targeted in the operation, as the purported militants were clearly based in Taraba.
There was no immediate indication as to the identity  had any connection to Boko Haram.
Iwela said the search for the attackers was ongoing.
Plateau state falls in Nigeria’s so-called middle belt, where the mainly Christian south meets the majority Muslim north.
Christian-dominated farming communities have clashed with largely Muslim herdsmen of the Fulani ethnic group since the turn of the century, leaving thousand dead.
Ayuba said the region on the Taraba Border has been peaceful for several years.
Violence by Boko Haram has most heavily been concentrated in Plateau’s capital Jos, where churches and markets have been repeatedly bombed.
Most violence in rural areas has been blamed on long-standing sectarian grievances furled party by battles over land rights.
On Thursday 13th May 2015, the Nigeria military repealed attack by Boko Haram in Maiduguri the capital of Borno state, thereby declaring a 24 hours curfew in order to comb the town and rid it of the insurgents.
Report from the military said an unconfirmed number of terrorists were killed the weekend of 15-16 May 2015 as additional camps used by the terrorist group were over-an in the continuous offensive operations against the insurgents in Sambisa Forest.
The Dure Camp, which was one of the most prominent camps in the forest, witnessed the fiercest battle as Special Forces descended heavily on it before it finally fell, the armed force said.
Four of the camps were located in a place called to be recently established by the terrorists before the assault began. One soldier dies from one of the land mine encountered in the operation, while two others were also wounded.
The terrorist lost a number of vehicle mounted with Anti-Aircraft Guns as well as armoured vehicles. Some of the terrorists who escaped from the camps also died as they ran into troop’s ambush in some escape routes from the forest, Army Spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade said.
Meanwhile, he said some of the fleeing terrorists has also engaged in suicide missions in Bitta where they encountered the Nigerian troops across the border. “The operation to clear the terrorists in Sambisa and other forest is continuing as troops in all fronts have been a lerted to be on the lookout for fleeing terrorists. The Nigerian Air forces  is maintaining an active air surveillance to track the movement of terrorists for appropriate action as the operation continues.” he said.
Armed force destroy 10 Boko Haram Camps on Sunday 17 May 2015, in the remote Sambisa forest, the Militant group’s final hideout in the northeast of the country, the military said.
In a statement, the military said many Boko Haram militants had been killed in the offensive. They said they has also captured a number of armoued vehicle and anti-aircraft guns.
The Defence Headquarters said that there was no cause for over the reported retaken of Marte town in Borno by insurgents as steps were being taken to address the untoward development.
The DHQ said in a statement posted on its website on Saturday 16 May 2015 that “there has not been any static development of troops in Marte for quite sometime”.
The statement said that was in line with the need to emphasise more aggressive patrol of many threatened isolated communities while assault on forests and mountain hideouts of terrorists was ongoing.
“Only occasional patrols and surveillance have been undertaken towards the areas the Bulk of troops are engaged in the operation to clear the terrorists from all identified enclaves in the forest.
“Besides, Marte had been deserted by citizens, most of whom had fled to other towns while others are in IDP camps located in Maiduguri and other places.
“It is understandable that terrorists escaping from the offensive operations in Sambisa and other enclaves are looking for places of respite,” it said.
According to the statement, they (terrorists) must have found Marte deserted and decided to larbour there.
“Now that their presence is reported the issues will definitely be addressed in a very short while.
“ There is really no cause for alarm in the way some reports are presenting the situation as if it is a meaning resurgence of terrorists.
“This will only fool the terrorists and their sympathizers into false celebration. There will certainly be no respite for terrorists anywhere in Nigeria.” It said.
On Saturday 23rd May, the military said troops killed score of Islamic extremists and rescued 20 women and children from captivity even as reports of Boko Haram fighters slitting villagers’ throats and chopping them to death, came in.
The bolsters reports the insurgents are running out of ammunition and resorting to hit-and run assaults in the face of Nigerian offensive against their last stronghold in the northeastern Sambisa  Forest.
A military statement on Saturday 23rd May, said four camps were destroyed on Friday despite land mine that killed one soldier and wounded 10.
Meanwhile, farmer Kwada Abawu said he saw at least 10 people slaughtered before he fled his northeastern village of kwamda-kobla on Friday.
Local government chairman Maina Ularamu said no shots were fires: victims were axed to death, some had their heads cut off.
It would also be recalled that between March and April 2015, the Nigerian forces liberated some local governments in Adamawa, Borno  and Yobe States from the control of Boko Haram sect.
The successes recorded against Boko Haram in 2015 has not been solely the efforts of the Nigerians forces, as multinational forces of Chad and Niger have has repelled attacks from Boko Haram, even in Nigeria soil. Most notable of these attacks is the attempt by the insurgents to take Mboki Local Government Area on March 9th 2015, which saw the multinational forces Chad and Niger overpowering them, killing about 300 members of Boko Haram.
Nigerians are counting on the President Muhammadu Buhari to improve on the successes recorded by the military in recent times and bring to a total halt the issue of terrorism in our great nation Nigeria.

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