Shocking!

Dozens of Nigerian women who were forced to
marry Boko Haram fighters were reportedly
slaughtered by their “husbands” before a battle
with troops in the northeast town of Bama,
multiple witnesses said Thursday.
Five witnesses who recounted the massacres to
AFP said the Islamist militants feared they would
be killed by advancing soldiers or separated from
their wives when they fled the town.
They killed the women to prevent them from
subsequently marrying soldiers or other so-called
non-believers, they added.
“The terrorists said they will not allow their wives
to be married to infidels,” said Sharifatu Bakura,
39, a mother of three.
Nigeria’s military along with forces from
neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger have
claimed huge victories over the insurgents in
recent weeks but defenceless civilians still face
serious threats.
– ‘Dozens’ of corpses –
According to Bakura’s account, which was
supported by others, Boko Haram fighters
received word of a military assault on Bama,
formerly an Islamist stronghold in Borno state.
The insurgents had decided to flee to the nearby
town of Gwoza before the troops’ arrival but first
decided “to kill their wives so that nobody will
remarry them”, she said.
Bukara’s husband was killed by the insurgents
four months ago but she was spared from a
forced marriage because she was visibly
pregnant.
Boko Haram forcibly married scores of women in
Bama after seizing it in September. Nigeria’s
military announced the recapture of the town on
Monday.
Witnesses who were taken under military
protection this week to Borno’s capital Maiduguri,
73 kilometres (45 miles) away, said the killing of
women began 10 days before Bama was
liberated.
The Islamists said “if they kill their wives, they
would remain pious until both of them meet again
in heaven, where they would re-unite”, said Salma
Mahmud, another witness.
A vigilante who fought alongside the military in
the battle to retake Bama, Abba Kassim, said he
saw “dozens of women corpses” in the town.
– Commander’s instructions –
While other witnesses reportedly a similarly high
casualty figure the numbers were impossible to
verify.
Fanna Aisami, 52, also in Maiduguri after
escaping Bama this week, said the executions
followed a warning from Boko Haram’s top
commander in the town.
“He informed them of the situation and the
consequence of the takeover of the town by the
advancing troops.
“He warned them that when soldiers killed them
they would take their wives back to the society
where they would be forced to marry and live
with infidels,” the mother of seven said, speaking
by phone to AFP in Kano.
The commander “said it would be better for them
to kill their wives and send them to heaven,”
Aisami added.
A number of women were shot dead in front of
the commander’s house, she further said.
Yagana Mairambe, 58, reported similar details but
told AFP that “some Boko Haram men refused”
and fled with their wives towards neighbouring
Yobe state.
Nigeria’s national security spokesman Mike Omeri
told AFP he would try to verify the reports while
the military could not immediately be reached for
comment.
With Boko Haram gunmen facing heavy military
pressure across northeast Nigeria, attacks,
including suicide bombings, have persisted, even
as the government in Abuja tries to assure voters
that March 28 elections will be secure.
The Islamist uprising has claimed more than
13,000 lives since 2009 and President Goodluck
Jonathan has faced fierce criticism over failure to
contain the violence.
The latest reported atrocities in Bama recall
similar massacres at high schools and colleges
across northeast Nigeria, where Boko Haram has
executed scores of students learning a so-called
infidel curriculum.