185 killed, 2,000 houses razed as soldiers, Boko Haram clash in Borno

The entire township of Baga, a border town in Borno state, was razed down at the weekend as a Nigeria-led multinational force and suspected members of Boko Haram engaged in a shootout that left no fewer than 185 persons dead, according to government officials.
The level of destruction and loss of lives, according to a source, remains one of the most unprecedented since the insurgency by the Islamic sect commenced.
Residents of Baga, a town famous for having the largest fish market in Nigeria, alleged that the killings and burning down of houses were perpetrated by soldiers.
Governor Kashim Shettima, who visited the town yesterday, was overcome by emotion at the sight of charred houses, vehicles and how homeless residents took refuge in the bush.
The commander of the multinational force, Brigadier General Austin Edokpaye, explained that the conflagration that consumed the town and resultant deaths should be blamed on Boko Haram, who opened fire on soldiers and used civilians as human shield.
However, a local trader in the town said that the attack, which started at about 8pm on Friday, was unprovoked even as he blamed soldiers for going house-to-house, chasing residents and setting their abodes on fire.
A resident who pleaded not to be named said: “Only God can understand what we have done to deserve this. But the soldiers were mindless that night in their approach; they killed and burnt our houses, chased everyone into the bush, including women and children.
So far, we have buried 185 corpses. Some were burnt beyond recognition; others are hospitalized, with various degrees of burn.”
Shettima, who drove through the charred streets with a large retinue of government functionaries, including the member of the House of Representatives representing the area, Hon. Isa Lawan Kangarwa, and the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Baba Ahmed Jidda, also visited the General Hospital, Baga, where he commiserated with women, children and aged men admitted for various cases of burn.
Food and other basic needs became a problem in the town yesterday as a grocery merchant, who lost his house and business stall in the conflagration, Malam Bashir Isa, said, “Everyone has been in the bush since Friday night; we started returning to town because the governor came today. To get food to eat now is a problem because even the markets are burnt. We are still picking corpses of women and children in the bush”.
Brigadier General Edokpaye said his men were on Friday night attacked while on a routine patrol of the town by a mob suspected to be members of Boko Haram.
He said: “We lost an officer during the attack on our men on patrol. We had received an intelligence report that some suspected Boko Haram members usually pray and hide arms at a particular mosque in town. It was around that mosque that our men were attacked, with several of them injured, and an officer died.
“When we reinforced and returned to the scene, the terrorists came out with heavy firepower, including RPGs, which usually has a conflagration effect that caused houses with thatched roofs or fencing to catch fire.”
The commander denied claims by the villagers that the attack was premeditated and deliberately executed to get at some people.
He noted that with his years of stay in Borno he had been able to cultivate civil and military relations to the effect that Baga township and environs had enjoyed relative peace for years.
He said those who died as a result of the incident could be victims of the crossfire between the soldiers and the Boko Haram gunmen, which he said was highly regrettable.
The state governor, who took ample time to pacify the aggrieved residents, pleaded with those in the bush to return home.
He also directed that those in the hospital with severe cases of burns be transferred to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital where they could get better treatment.
Shettima later expressed his displeasure with the way the soldiers carried out their duties on that fateful day, just as he implored the commander to “take full charge” of his operation and ensure he personally supervises his field officers from time to time “in order to avert such nasty incidents in the future.”
Before he left the town, which is about 230 kilometres from Maiduguri, Shettima inaugurated a high-powered committee, led by Hon Isa Lawan Kangarwa, to ascertain the extent of the damage and how the people could be helped out of their seemingly irreparable trauma.