Nigeria: Boko Haram Captures 2,000 Troops After Setting Military Base on Fire

Boko Haram terrorists reportedly raised their flag at a military base Thursday in Nigerian Borno state’s Baga town, trapping 2,000 troops and forcing 700 others to go missing.

“After displacing soldiers and rendering residents homeless, they hoisted their flag there. No one can deny this,” an unnamed resident told Sahara Reporters.

Another resident, Labbo Dan-Baga, also reportedly said, “Boko Haram has hoisted its flag in Baga … We went to the mosque to pray and discovered we were surrounded by Boko Haram.”

“They told us not to panic as we prayed together … they said they were not going to kill any civilian. And that they are from the Abu-Mossad Albarnawi’s ISWAP [Islamic State West Africa Province] faction. They told us to stay in the town or leave if we want to. They dressed in a brown caftan with army boots. Some completely covered their faces with a mask,” the Cable reported.

U.S.-backed Nigerian armed forces, however, continue to deny Boko Haram overran the Baga military base.

Still, on Friday, Sahara Reporters learned from an unnamed source, “Boko Haram has taken over Baga town. More than 2,000 troops are there trapped, and 700 are missing. [Air Force] jets cannot do anything now because the soldiers are trapped in their midst.”

The attack on the military base took place in Baga, a town in Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State, the birthplace and home to the primary strongholds of Boko Haram.

“Baga is the headquarters of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) — a formation comprising units, mostly military, from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria, and boasting between 7,500 and 10,000 personnel,” Sahara Reporters noted.

Boko Haram insurgents reportedly succeeded in dislodging the jihadis and hoisting their flags inside the captured Nigerian military base.

Although SaharaReporters was unable to independently verify that 2,000 Nigerian troops are trapped and 700 others are missing, a security source reportedly said it was “highly possible.”

“So many soldiers, likely in their hundreds, are missing,” another source told Sahara Reporters. “Even the Baga Brigade Commander is back in Maiduguri, which means he must have escaped when he saw that his team was overwhelmed.”

The source also confirmed that the Boko Haram terrorists not only captured the military base in Baga, but they also set it ablaze and stole weapons and other military equipment.