Nigerian Special Forces commandos undertake confidence-building foot patrols in the far northeastern district of Baga.
DEFENCE HEADQUARTERS NIGERIA
(Press Release)
27 June, 2014
In a separate encounter around Duguri near Nigerian–Nigerien border, troops of the Multinational Joint Task Force stormed a terrorists’ hideout in a raid operation and recovered 18 rifles, 5 General Purpose Machine Guns, 25 hand grenades and IED making materials.
A total of 53 terrorists died in the encounter while the troops lost 2 men and 5 others suffered varying degrees of injuries.
Beegeagle's Blog 
CAMEROON CONTINUES BOKO HARAM CRACKDOWN
VOICE OF AMERICA
26 June, 2014
Cameroon’s military has killed 10
suspected Boko Haram members along
its northern border with Nigeria and
arrested 50 Nigerian businessmen in
Cameroon for allegedly collaborating
with the militants.
Cameroon’s crackdown is gaining intensity as Boko Haram has intensified its attacks in its native Nigeria. The latest clash between Cameroon’s military and suspected Boko Haram
militants took place in Mora, along the
border with Nigeria’s Borno state, the
heart of the five year old Boko Haram
insurgency.
Mora resident and businessman Bevina Paul described witnessing Wednesday’s attack. He said “look over there, a few kilometers from here, it is Nigeria. We heard people dancing and singing like in a wedding feast.” He said that was when shooting and explosions suddenly started. It appears the militants may have either disguised themselves as a wedding party ahead of the attempted attack on Cameroon’s military post or used civilian members of a wedding party as a distraction.
The military says in addition to killing some of the militants, it confiscated vehicles, a large quantity of weapons and detained dozens of Nigerians on suspicion of aiding Boko Haram.
Colonel Chioka Pierre told VOA they have been conducting sweeps as part of an intensified crackdown on violent incidents believed to be connected to Boko Haram. He said they have been searching more than half a dozen border villages to prevent incursions or to stop militants from using Cameroon as a hideout or launching pad for attacks. He said local residents were cooperating with the military to root out Boko Haram suspects in the area.
Residents said for some time there have been strange faces in their villages. And some feared Boko Haram may be recruiting young, unemployed people in Cameroon.
Bipong Dennis is a local resident. “We are seeing most of our graduates every year having no jobs.Tell me, if somebody comes and proposes a high sum of money to join this organization, most youths are desperate.They will be forced to do everything to get into these extremist activities,” said Dennis.
Military spokesman, Colonel Didier Badjeck, acknowledged Boko Haram has become a serious threat in northern Cameroon. He said the security situation in north Cameroon is getting worse and Boko Haram was a very real threat in terms of recruiting young people, killing, looting and stealing.
Fear and suspicion are taking a sectarian turn, with some locals associating the threat with religion, given Boko Haram’s Islamist agenda. Pegui Manga is a teacher. “I feel threatened. When I see a Muslim around me I feel threatened. They are a threat and every other person that passes around us dressed as a Muslim or is identified as a Muslim is a potential threat,” said Manga.
In the past week, Cameroon’s military also detained 40 suspected Boko Haram militants in Maroua and sealed off a market where they suspect Boko Haram may be hiding arms. The intensified crackdown comes as Boko Haram carries out daily deadly attacks and kidnappings in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s president has vowed to crush the Islamist insurgency and is getting assistance from other countries,including the United States.
Fantastic news.
NAF is also training 22 Logistics pilots at the International aviation college in Ilorin, kwara state.
Yeah, saw a bit of that on NTA News yesterday whilst the visit of the CAS to the 203 Medium Airlift Group was being aired. The hangar project there has also now been completed.
The hangar project and a used G222 plane were thrown in for free as sweeteners in a deal with ALENIA to have all of the rest five G222 planes refurbished and upgraded.
Tactical air command is half asleep.
40 SUSPECTED BOKO HARAM SUSPECTS ARRESTED IN CAMEROON
VOICE OF AMERICA
24 June, 2014
Cameroon’s military has arrested 40suspected Boko Haram militants in the north of the country. Soldiers have also sealed off a market where they suspect Boko Haram may be hiding arms for use in the insurgency over the border in Nigeria.
“A gendarme [military] raid on the Maroua Central Market has led to the arrests of over 40 people,” a state radio broadcaster announced. “The arrests are in connection with ongoing investigations into the activities of the Boko Haram group in the far north region of the country.”
In an interview with the private Danay FM radio station, Maroua businessman Wanika Baba, said many of the arrested were his peers and there is confusion in the community. He added that he does not understand what is happening as the military has had the market sealed for two days now and have arrested so many people. He said children and women are suffering from the closure and no one knows the fate of those arrested.
Colonel Nyemeck Pierre, who led the military raid, told VOA that the central government ordered the military action as part of its fight against Boko Haram incursions into Cameroon. “It is the duty of the military to filter the population so that enemies do not infiltrate into Cameroon,” he said in French, adding that the matter is complicated because along the border there are Nigerians and Cameroonians who belong to the same families and soldiers have to try to distinguish who is a militant.
This is the first time Cameroon’s military has carried out an operation on such a large scale in a single day. Northern Cameroon has been plagued for almost a year with an influx of refugees and militants from strife in neighboring Central African Republic and the Boko Haram violence in northern Nigeria.
Authorities in Cameroon have been urging citizens along the border – particularly with Nigeria’s Borno state – the heart of the Boko Haram insurgency – to cooperate with the government by providing information on suspected sympathizers with the Islamist sect. The government here believes Boko Haram is now expanding its recruiting into Cameroon.
Oga beegeagle, honestly there is something I don’t understand. This war is a 4 year old ding-dong affair, NA kick Boko, Boko punch NA, like two equally matched kids struggling for supremacy in a sandy playground wrestling contest. Na so we go dey continue ad infinitum?
My confusion is this ; Bokos main strength and base is said to be Sambisa forest. Size is about 600 square kilometers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambisa_Forest
If Nigeria wants to comb that forest and we deploy 100 soldiers heavily armed infantry per square kilometer, means we need 60,000 men, also means we will have one soldier on a land size of about two football fields. Looks to me like a one day job per soldier.
If we take the entire Chad Basin National Park with total area about 2,258 square kilometres including the Sambisa inside it covering both Borno and Yobe parts of the park in full, then excluding delays due to terrain hardship, we would need to do the combing operation in just four days !
We could also scale down to just 20,000 heavily armed infantry men in 2 army divisions and do this job in twelve days. Add close air combat support, add transport helicopters ferrying and dropping men across harsh portions of terrain to arrive on target location in quick time, comb and get airlifted back to base. Pumas, Augustas, Hinds, Terminators, tracked APC, wheeled APC, Landcruisers, foot men, motorcycles, camels, horses, help from local hunters like kamajors helped ECOMOG navigate ways in the forests, etc.
So why has Boko continued to exist inside Nigeria on the Chad axis including Sambisa forest for four long years, they come out to attack, they go back home inside this Nigeria, they eat, our Nigeria girls cook, they rape the girls at will, they train for combat, plan strategy for next attack, sleep and have a goodnight after a wicked day’s job….
Is this not the reason why some international observers say Nigerian army does not have the will to deal with the Bokos? Same Nigerian army that pursued rebels into some thousands of square kilometers land size thick equatorial rain forests of death in Liberia and Sierra Leone civil wars and fought rebels in Nimba mountains?
Same army or a newer army of men whose agenda we do not know? Is any military top brass benefiting financially from the prolonging of this Boko Haram war?
This is a mystery I do not understand.
I am sure the Nigerian military are also feeling peeved at the misrepresentation of their institutional essence as seen in the global media and are probably preparing for a major crackdown in the not-too-distant future. We shall see how that pans out.
Oga Augustine: good question. Welcome to COIN/ guerilla warfare. Boko Haram has shown they are exceptionally flexible and adaptable and they have the initiative. The moment they lose the initiative they lose the war.
Unfortunately our military is still structured as a conventional force and has not done the work needed to change things.
However this is a common fault of all militarys. Most soldeirrs are extremely conservative. IT took the British Army 3-4 years to realise that simply having NI experience and Malaya under ou belt was not good enough for Basra. Looking back it is fairly ludicrous the arrogance we had and the utter refusal to accept reality.
The US adapts much quicker by nature however their reaction are almost all tactical. At the operational and strategic level they remain rigid. This is partly because Generals serve tours of duty. a divisional or Battlegroup commander has a 6 or 12 month tour to make his name. It takes much longer than that to reposture and do the necessary hard things needed to win. The US only surged after they lost the mid term elections.
The war will be won, but not this year or next and there will be alot of suffering. As long as BH targets rural peasants and urban poor the political and strategic pressure to change will not exist.
Alot has been said about Sri Lanka. I’m happy to admit my initial scepticism was wrong, there is alot we can learn from them
http://www.airforce.mil.ng/post-_______________________________________nema_hands_over_search_and_rescue_mi_17_helicopter_to_the_naf_
Welcome development, sri lankan military strategies against the tamil tigers come to mind.
Nice update Oga….but look at NAF official website so dry nothing shows a military force to reckon with, NAF website shows 20 times more human beings than aircraft, compare it to the guys we are said to be copying… http://www.paf.gov.pk/wallpapers.html
Peccavi has said it all. Its a gradual process. Nigeria will win this war but we should not expect victory sooner. It is good to see the multi national taskforce do its job. Keep up the good work oga beeg!
Interesting piece.
http://www.independent.co.ug/ugandatalks/2014/06/nigeria-has-an-image-problem-western-news-altering-perception/?
Easy read; nice and simple.
Simple but classic piece, thanks @drag_on, I will get mouth now to reply those guys embarrassing me at work and play.
Now you understand why we vigorously challenge the unidirectional narratives churned out by a lot of the foreign media mugus operating in Nigeria, chiefly the BBC, Al Jazeera and AP.
What do you make of this?
http://m.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28015962
True to British antics of divide-and-rule, the BBC have unleashed a Nigerian psychologist who makes out to be upset about Nigeria’s supposed image obsession. In effect, the BBC are softening Nigerians up to be unperturbed as the BBC prepares to amplify its campaigns of calumny against our people and country? Nice try but we have seen through the smokescreen. This is a timid PsyOps manoeuvre.
WHY would the BBC single out Nigeria to present to her audience, asking them to “describe Nigeria in one word”. Have they asked that of Algeria, DR Congo, Libya or Sudan? Not to mention Somalia and CAR. So why Nigeria?
Truth be told, the BBC have MANY interests which they push in Nigeria all the time. They always mouth off about challenging and all sorts of busybody gibberish. If GRINDING POVERTY is the casus belli in the BH crisis, have they ever asked why the North is that way even as Nigerians of northern extraction have dominated political leadership in post-independent Nigeria? NO, they will not. The BBC are more interested in retaining their market share of the Hausa language broadcast segment so they will never ask such questions in order not to alienate their Hausa Service listeners. At the same time and to rally those listeners behind the BBC, they would prey on and blame all woes in Nigeria on the Jonathan administration. They really sound like a compromised bunch of manipulative journalists to anyone who is in tune with their antics.
And YES, Nigeria are probably marked out for demolition by the BBC for having the temerity to go against their neocolonialist designs. Perhaps NIGERIA and Zimbabwe are the only two countries in Africa which have refused to allocate FM relay frequencies to foreign media. That has the BBC livid because Nigeria has the biggest BBC audience in the world bar INDIA. So that is another reason for the media siege on Nigeria. They want to teach Nigeria a lesson for not being amenable to their whims.
Perhaps you guys now understand why I set up this blog. I was shocked about the patently false narratives on our DEFSEC affairs and with what we are privileged to know by God, I had to step up for the monumental challenge of telling the Nigeria story. It was a very daring decision that we took when we chose to veer into this hallowed and uncharted terrain but I was SURE that I meant no harm and would not misrepresent the reality, so we took the potentially deadly purge. The nation is much better for it today. To the glory of God, we have done our duty. There is no DEFSEC institution of note across the globe – including defence media, equipment logs and think-tanks – whose personnel do not visit this blog everyday to get the headsup.
Even if I choose to bow out of this big stage today, they cannot now claim not to know where to find the richest archives on Nigerian DEFSEC affairs documented for posterity. Stay the course, gentlemen..
Thank you for the piece, thank you once again
I have noticed that quite a few of the IDE’s i have seen are based on propane gas. Is there no means of regulating the sale of the gas in the N.E and Abuja?Surely, that would slow down the spate of the blasts.Start with a 1 month ban and put a regulatory framework in place to identify buyers of gas.
IED’s*
Hard to regulate cooking gas, but if national interest is at stake, nothing good is too hard to do. Ban the gas….but petrol maybe a substitute. We should have hourly radio campaigns in Northern Nigeria telling people how to identify a possible suicide bomber before he strikes.
They are not using cooing gas, the cylinders are used as containers for the IEDs. The gas cylinder shatters and in effect becomes shrapnel.
In a country like Nigeria attempting to regulate sale or distribution of gas cylinders would be a nightmare and fairly pointless.
http://m.voanews.com/a/1945447.html
Please read the comment by Godwin, one of those typically self-denigrating scumbags we are unfortunate to have as a compatriot. We might want to lead him to the light. Some of our people are just cursed. There is no other way to look at it.
This is how they roll in the middle east, five days, five big ones and they get the baaad stuff…
http://www.punchng.com/news/iraq-gets-russian-fighter-jets-to-fight-rebels/
Somebody please show the above Iraqi jets deal to Nigerian air force and Nigerian government, let them see, let them hear.
Why did Nigeria not get 12 Brazilian Air Force leased/second hand emergency need Super Tucanos since the past 7 months we declared interest since November 2013, and let the whole world know, secrecy in money transactions breeds corruption.
An Alpha jet pilot with 10 years flying experience plus F-7 jet 5 years flying experience should be able to fly Tucano in 6 months and be killing Bokos like insecticide kills mosquitoes. What is happening?……….hush hush….it is a Nigerian ‘SECRET’….secret that is exposed to Brazilians and hidden from Nigerians….common sense?
I just don’t understand why the CAS can’t say what has been ordered after announcing that Fighter Aircraft and Helicopters are expected.
It is sheer lunacy to keep such information secret for no obvious tactical benefit apart from maybe avoiding scrutiny.
Can you imagine the boost that the troops as well as well meaning Nigerians would receive upon announcement and clarification of what is expected and when?
If Messi is from Jupiter, our military top brass are still marooned on Earth.
I want to know whether we are expecting Kfir Block 60, Block 1 JF-17, SU-27/30 or J-10. Is that too much to ask Mr CAS?
I hope for the sake of our military that the news about the attack near Chibok this morning is exaggerated.
I am really getting exasperated.
A fastjet pilot could convert to a turbo prop Tucano in two days, max a week. Not six months.
As ever, the problem with not seeing things through properly.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/onuh-the-problem-with-nigeria-s-satellite-space-technology/182099/
rka says:
June 29, 2014 at 2:24 pm
I just don’t understand why the CAS can’t say what has been ordered after announcing that Fighter Aircraft and Helicopters are expected.
It is sheer lunacy to keep such information secret for no obvious tactical benefit apart from maybe avoiding scrutiny.
Can you imagine the boost that the troops as well as well meaning Nigerians would receive upon announcement and clarification of what is expected and when?
I want to know whether we are expecting Kfir Block 60, Block 1 JF-17, SU-27/30 or J-10. Is that too much to ask Mr CAS?
I am really getting exasperated.
REPLY
The more you look, the less you see, that is Nigeria.
Magic style abraca-dabra confusion is the name of the game.
BH ATTACK MILITARY OUTPOST IN YOBE USING 4 APCs AND 11 TECHNICALS…7 SOLDIERS KILLED; ANOTHER ATTACK NEAR CHIBOK
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN0F40IP20140629
I’ve said it,we should turn chibok into a fortress, it is obvious that their main water and food source is close to that area,if they are able to mobilise that many men and equipment.This is an obvious retaliation to their last defeat there.
How can they keep hitting the same place repeatedly and successfully?
Is their no air-force asset on the ready within 5-mins of chibok?
Good question Oga drag_on, where is NAF when a whole armoured column of Bokos drove to a Nigerian army location and attacked us on home soil and drove out again, or this attack is inside a hidden Sambisa forest?
Forest and mountain harsh terrain is always an excuse for NA and NAF, so this one now, is NAF dead? Looks like we have a Nigerian military that can be beaten by Chad.
Or someone is profiting from this prolonged war, financial and political gains?
I think there is something secret about this war we are not being told for 4 years !
One sometimes gets the impression the Airforce has given up pending the arrival of the 4th gen aircraft and super tucanos.
whatever happened to raw ingenuity? What happened to taking (or procuring fairly used) scout or general purpose helicopters, and slapping rocket pods and machine guns on them? During the Civil war, the Biafrans with swedish technical help converted MFI crop duster aircraft into fearsome ground attack aircraft by putting rockets and machine guns on them (they were christened Mini-coins). These are all modifications that any airbase workshop can manage.
These are not too far from the reasoning that gave birth to the Super Tucanos, and would hold the line before the arrival of the expected Jet fighters etc.
They would be cheaper and can be based within 30 minutes of the battlefields of the North East.
Why not challenge the boys at the AFIT, i remember attending a science exhibition, where these guys from AFIT showcased nice modifications to the basic rocket pod, and home built Paraplane (motorised parachute).
We must learn to rely on our own ingenuity, unfortunately i sense that our defence leaders believe scientific ingenuity is only for science exhibitions.
Really sad!!!!
PRESIDENT JONATHAN WRITES FOR WASHINGTON POST
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/goodluck-jonathan-nothing-is-more-important-than-bringing-home-nigerias-missing-girls/2014/06/26/7739275e-fd4b-11e3-b1f4-8e77c632c07b_story.html
NEW YORK POST UNIMPRESSED BY GEJ’s GESTURE
http://nypost.com/2014/06/27/goodluck-nigeria/
My Presido did not write jack and i believe the UD PR expenditure is a waste. I had predicted after the Chibok kidnap and first lady’s open frustration about the whole kidnap that the FG was going to go this wau.We need to keep a permanent lobbyist firm in Washington as a permanent investment. Alsp, Nigerians have the intellectual depth and breadth to tell our own story and wr should be the ones penning our own op eds. The only thing we need thesr shady companies for is access and a roadmap for penetrating the arms of the US govts
*sorry, defective keypad*
@RKA, why don’t you just relax, wait for the Airforce to reveal what sort of fighters they purchased to the public, instead of constantly speculating.
No amount of speculation would change whether, or not the Airforce received or did not receive any fighters.
The Airforce has said they would present the Aircrafts to the public, or you can attend the Air Expo in october or november when it is finally held.
@Henry, why should I or anybody else wait? Where else in the world do people wait after an announcement of a procurement using public money? They are accountable to the public and this isn’t a dictatorship.
There is speculation because our military top brass know jack about PR and saying they will reveal what was purchased or present them to the public at some stage is not good enough and certainly not in this modern age.
Can someone please tell me where all this secrecy has got us up to this point?
Isn’t it because of the above that GEJ has got a PR company (spin doctor) to tell his story when all that is needed is to let your country know what is happening?
Anyway joor @Henry, i am not annoyed with you, just the system and it needs dragging into the modern era.
One thing is clear in this video,we are at war.My fear is this..Is there any government in this country?This is the federal capital territory..It is meant to be heavily fortified with the latest security equipments to prevent occurrences like this.
This is the harsh reality of what has been happening in the North East for the past 4 years.
I think we need to change what we are fighting for as a nation.
It is the welfare of the citizens that the government does not possess as their own number one priority.
This country is still not serious .
Yes.
No government in the country. Take note of the very clear late arrival of first responders, take note of the absence of a quick reaction security force condoning off the area to prevent and protect civilians from other related explosions (not secondary explosions as some half-educated police commissioner called it at Nyanya). It is a very big problem we have in this country bordering on deep ingrained mediocrity in the security services, corruption and an absence of emergency drills by the emergency services. Everybody at all levels of authority in the security and emergency services has relaxed into an organic kind of inertia that will not improve if serious sanctions are not exacted on people failing their duty.The President needs to find a fall guy to take responsibility for this one and continue doing that until somebody finds a solution to this problem of preventing public places from bombers. It is a tall order yes, but at least we get to clear vital government agencies of laggards.
Oga Augustine to your point on the strategy DHQ is using in fighting BH; I also have some questions of mine for them; why not temporarily relocate the 3rd, 2nd and 41st divisions to the north east to assist the 7th? that would bring the troop strength to at least 50-60 thousand. why not re-assign every single attack Helos and heavy armor APCs to the area? if the genuine goal to is to rapidly bring an end to this horror going on in the north then it seems to me like the human anti-body that relocates to fight off infection, we should re-locate every personnel, hardware, equipment that are currently not doing much to that theatre and rapidly bring this to an end.
Oga Julius with regards to this last bombing, you would think that the government by now would in Abuja have every business district, shopping centers, public place of gathering, major street junctions, hotels, etc. hooked up to CCTV and create a ‘Central command’ where the Police, DSS, Military and emergency services can monitor share and rapidly respond to emerging situations. Its a shame looking at a video like this and wonder what if that was me or my relative or friend.
http://www.osundefender.org/?p=175087
This gives good insight
http://online.wsj.com/articles/nigerian-violence-spawns-homemade-responses-1403725272