Witnesses: Boko Haram Slaughtered Abducted ‘Wives’ Before Battle to Prevent Remarriage

Witnesses in Nigeria claimed Boko Haram terrorists forced abducted women to marry members of the jihadist group only to later slaughter them before a battle, lest they remarry Nigerian troops or “non-believers.”

Boko Haram seized Bama in Borno State in September. Nigerian troops captured the town on Monday and sent survivors to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno.

“The terrorists said they will not allow their wives to be married to infidels,” recounted Sharifatu Bakura.

Bakura and other witnesses said the militants heard of a possible attack by Nigerian troops into the town of Bama. That is when they decided to slaughter their wives “so that nobody will remarry them.” Bukara escaped a forced marriage since “she was visibly pregnant” at the time. Militants killed her husband four months ago.

The terrorists started to murder the women ten days before the troops liberated the town. Witness Salma Mahmud said the militants claimed, “if they kill their wives, they would remain pious until both of them meet again in heaven, where they would re-unite.” Abba Kassim, a man who fought with the troops, saw “dozens of women corpses” in Bama.

A source said the militants told the women, “We will not spare any one of you because if unbelievers marry you, when we get to heaven, there is no way we can meet again. So we are doing this so that we can meet in heaven.”

“My husband and children hid in one house until the battle was over,” a woman conveyed to AFP. “Then yesterday we were bought to Maiduguri by the military who saved us from Boko Haram.”

Yagana Mairambe, 58, did say there were “some Boko Haram men” who refused to murder their wives. They chose to flee into Yobe State with their wives.

While death tolls remain unconfirmed, the army did rescue over two hundred people. They drove the citizens, “including children and women, in ten vehicles to Maiduguri.” Boko Haram rose in Nigeria five years ago and have killed over 13,000 people as they attempt to establish their own Islamic caliphate.