Skip to main content

Cameroon Teen Escapes Boko Haram After Raid


A 16-year-old girl was kidnapped with her 1-month-old baby by Boko Haram from her home in northern Cameroon 18 months ago, taken to Nigeria, married off to an extremist fighter and then trained to be a suicide bomber.
Last week she succeeded in escaping when the Nigerian military launched a raid on a Boko Haram camp. She wandered through Sambisa Forest in northeastern Nigeria for several days until, tired, weak and hungry, she was found by members of a local defence group fighting the extremists, who handed her over to Cameroon's military, said Midjiyawa Bakary governor of the Far North region of Cameroon.
"When the Nigerian army attacked the Boko Haram camp where we were, there was confusion everywhere and I escaped to the forest where I walked for a week and handed myself to the first people I saw," she said.
The teenager is among thousands of people who have been kidnapped by the Nigeria-based Islamic extremists since they launched their insurgency nearly seven years ago. Recently the abductions have reached across Nigeria's borders to Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
The Cameroonian girl is among hundreds freed since January. On Sunday, she was reunited with her parents but her daughter, she said tearfully, had been left with the man she was forced to marry after her kidnapping.
"I was taken to a prison in a cave where we were locked up for three weeks and then distributed to men. We were given food every morning to prepare for our husbands," she said in the local Hausa and Fulfulde languages through an interpreter. "Every afternoon we were asked to pray and vow that we would remain obedient."
She said she and many other girls were trained to be suicide bombers. "They took us two times every week and gave us lessons on how to detonate bombs. We were told if we died while defending Allah's cause against evil men, we shall be received in paradise."
Crowds of people, including government officials and traditional rulers, welcomed the teen home to Tourou village, near Mokolo in northern Cameroon. Her 52-year-old father said he was delighted to see her.
"I am grateful to all those who fought hard for the release of my daughter. As you can see, all of Tourou is very happy that she is back, even though her 2-year old daughter is not here with us," he said. "Our immediate plight now is how to have her treated because she looks tired and very sick."
Very sick
The girl needs more medical attention, according to Jacob Kodji, one of Cameroon's military commanders of troops fighting the Boko Haram insurgency.
"She was very, very sick when she was brought to us," Kodji said. "We did our best to save her life and will continue to take care of her. We are also thanking the Nigerian military for the attacks that freed her. We have deployed troops to the forest to see if other freed captives can be found."
The Cameroonian girl is among dozens who have escaped or been freed since January as troops from Nigeria and the multinational joint task force continue to launch raids against Boko Haram, including in its stronghold in the Sambisa Forest, near Cameroon's northern border with Nigeria.
A Nigerian girl who escaped last week was one of the 219 schoolgirls kidnapped from Chibok school in a mass abduction in 2014 that sparked international outrage. A May 19 raid on a Boko Haram camp liberated some 97 women and children and killed 35 extremists, said the Nigerian army.
These rescues are renewing hopes that the fight against Boko Haram is yielding results and the group will not be able to kidnap so many young women and girls to launch suicide attacks or act as sex slaves and young men and boys who are forced to join their fight to create an Islamic caliphate.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Female Motor Mechanic In Abuja

Photos/Video: Meet Blessing, a young female mechanic in Abuja Ocheni Raymond Oche shared this post about a young female mechanic he met yesterday at Conoil filling station, along airport road, after Federal Housing Lugb, Abuja. His post, video and photos, below: "DISCOURAGE PROSTITUTION AND OTHER NON CREDIBLE BUSINESSES WOMEN DO, ENCOURAGE HARDWORK AND DETERMINATION!!! Today I met Blessing (A MECHANIC), and I was touched, by the fact that a secondary school graduate who had no hope to further school sought to learn mechanic for 4 years and is on her own now, a life better than anything else that's depicts high level of immorality. As can be seen , she is changing shocks for a Toyota Camry (muscle), and I tell you its not beans! Please share this till someone in position or our churches or mosques finds this touching enough to help establish her and promote what she does and encourages other women and youth. I salute your person BLESSING. PLS TAKE TIME TO LISTEN ...

VIDEO: 1 dead 3 injured during T.I Concert

One person was killed and three others wounded in a shooting inside a concert venue in New York City, where hip-hop artist T.I. was scheduled to perform, police said. It happened around 22:15 on Wednesday at Irving Plaza, near Manhattan's Union Square. Police said a 34-year-old man was shot in the chest and a 33-year-old man was shot in the stomach. One of the men later died at a hospital, police did not say which one. A 26-year-old woman was shot in the leg. Police said a fourth person walked into a hospital on their own. Elijah Rodriguez was attending the concert with his sister and they were in the VIP area by the stage. He said T.I. was supposed to go on stage at 21:00 or 21:30 but "he never showed up." At or around 22:00 he said the venue started playing music again, and at about 22:15, he saw a line of people coming out from where the performers were coming onstage. "All the sudden I heard someone saying that there was a shot, that someone got shot," ...

EMENIKE NET BRACE FOR FENERBACHE

EMENIKE FIRES FENERBACHE TO CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WIN The former Super Eagles forward scored twice in Tuesday's Champions League playoff against Monaco Nigeria international Emmanuel Emenike scored two goals on Tuesday's evening to hand Fenerbache a 2-1 win against Monaco in the first leg of the Champions league qualifiers. The 29-year old striker opened scoring for the yellow canaries Şükrü Saracoğlu stadium in the 39th minute before completing his brace with a volley inside the box in the 61st minute. Radamel Falcao got a consolation for Monaco who were without Nigerian defender Elderson Echiejile in the 43rd minute. Vítor Pereira's men will travel to Stade Louis II for the second leg fixture next week Wednesday