Global Issues

Boko Haram attacks Key Nigerian City of Maiduguri

Boko Haram

• Founded in 2002
• Initially focused on opposing Western-style education - Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language
• Launched military operations in 2009 to create Islamic state
  
  
  
• Killed thousands of people, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria  
• Attacked police and UN headquarters in capital, Abuja
• Has abducted hundreds, including at least 200 schoolgirls
• Controls several north-eastern towns
• Has launched attacks on Cameroon
  News
  Boko Haram has attacked Maiduguri, a strategically important north-eastern city of Nigeria on January 25, 2015. Its last attack on Maiduguri was on December 2013. Fierce fighting and gunshots have been reported on the borders of Maiduguri. The city is under curfew and several militants and officials have been killed as a result of the conflicts.
  With elections coming up in the February, John Kerry, the US Secretary of state, has visited Nigeria for the second time urging for all parties to a peaceful election. The main reason of John Kerry’s reason of visiting Nigeria is to “show solidarity in the fight against Boko Haram, which has increased its attacks in recent days.”
  
  
  The BBC's Will Ross in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos:
  
  
  People in Maiduguri woke up to the sound of explosions and heavy gunfire as Boko Haram launched a pre-dawn attack on this strategic city. Ground troops, air strikes and local vigilantes managed to stop the jihadists from penetrating the city. Much of the fighting was around a barracks. In a separate attack the town of Monguno was captured - the latest to be seized by the group. With the insurgents gaining more and more territory Maiduguri is increasingly vulnerable. It is home to tens of thousands of people who have fled their homes because of the conflict.
  
  

  
  

  
  

  -Jeen&Hans