NIGERIA: Northern town of Damaturu, a flash-point of Boko Haram attacks, is virtually deserted as the government moves in troops to combat members of the Islamic sect

Record ID: 235430

  • Title: NIGERIA: Northern town of Damaturu, a flash-point of Boko Haram attacks, is virtually deserted as the government moves in troops to combat members of the Islamic sect
  • Date: 3rd January 2012
  • Summary: CHILDREN WAITING
  • Embargoed: 18th January 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria, Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Conflict,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACY9SPUUN8MQEAU5UI0UEB66KT
  • Story Text: Nigeria's northern town of Damaturu has been a flash-point of attacks by the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram. Now the town has become virtually empty as the government moves in troops to squeeze out members of the Islamic sect.
    Businesses in most parts of the town remained closed and the usually busy dusty streets and markets empty as people stayed away to avoid getting caught in the military build-up in the state.
    President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday (December 31) imposed a state of emergency in parts of Nigeria plagued by a violent Islamist insurgency and closed the borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger in the northeast.
    Nearly a week after the radical sect Boko Haram set off a series of bombs across Nigeria on Christmas Day, including one at a church that killed at least 37 people and wounded 57, Jonathan told state television his aim was to restore security in troubled parts of the north.
    Jonathan said he had told his chief of defense staff to take other "appropriate" measures, including setting up a special counter-terrorism force.
    Outside the town of Damaturu, hundreds of people displaced by the ongoing fighting between Boko Haram and the military received food and other relief material from well-wishers.
    Gun battles between security forces and Boko Haram killed at least 68 people in two days of fighting in Damaturu on December 22 and 23.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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