PHOTOS: Boko Haram Sect Are Resilient Warriors, Says JTF Personnel
Boko Haram fighters riding on motorbikes to launch an attack
Boko Haram sect members operating in Northern Nigeria are “resilient warriors” who are guided by ideological beliefs and are fearless in confronting the security agencies, a member of Nigeria’s Joint Task Force (JTF), has said.
The soldier, who requested anonymity, told SaharaReporters that the sect has many bases in the North that are yet to be unraveled, where they are brainwashing young Muslims. He said any one under-estimating them should rethink because the sect will never accept dialogue or any form of mediation unless they are crushed.
The soldier further said that members of the sect undertake certain rituals that make them fearless and focused in their insurgency and terrorists acts, adding that those under interrogation in JTF’s base usually confess that “they are doing Allah’s work” or “Jihad”.
The soldier explained, “I have been to Dafur and Liberia, but never experienced these kinds of fighters.
Rebels want power but these ones want death, they are just resilient warriors. You will see a small boy fearless and exchanging gun fire with us and even killing and injuring our colleagues.
He described how one of them nearly killed him last year in Damaturu. “We used to buy local food somewhere; from nowhere they trailed us and opened fire on us killing two of our colleagues, we escaped by luck with gun wounds.”
Of their use of rituals, he said those who have been capture had told them about it. “We believed them because the level of their ideology and commitment to their action proved so. We usually recover charms and other belongings related to acts of sorcery.”
