by Douglas Burton | March 20, 2019 02:29 p.m.
Terrorists of the group Boko Haram in Nigeria took over the town of Michika in Nigeria’s far eastern state of Adamawa, Monday, burning buildings and exchanging fire with government troops, according to Nigerian wire services and eyewitnesses interviewed for this report. The attack began at 7:30 p.m. in Michika and continued for hours with an unknown number of casualties, although initial reports mentioned “scores killed.” Nigeria’s 115 Task Force Battalion from nearby Lassa in Borno State was quickly dispatched and intercepted the terrorists, killing scores of them and causing “heavy casualties,” according to a press statement from an Army Public Affairs officer in the capital of Abuja.
“I heard bomb blasts and lots of stray bullets,” said Father Peter John Wumbadi, head of St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Michika, in a cell phone call Monday night. Wumbadi said the hail of stray gunfire motivated him to pack six of his teenage students at the parish school into his SUV and drive past burning buildings and crowds of panicked citizens running for cover in the local bush.
The military came to intervene, but many buildings were in flames, including the bank and some shops that were also looted. There was an onslaught today. The Boko Haram boys stole more than seven vehicles and went into the streets and started shooting. I think scores were killed. The Boko Haram had attacked Michika before, in 2014 and on Feb. 26, 2016.
“The Boko Haram terrorists were completely routed by the troops, neutralizing many of them, while others fled in disarray due to superior firepower,” according to the press statement of Army Col. Sagir Musa.
“Boko Haram has taken over Michika,” a resident reportedly screamed to Sahara Reporters on the phone before the call was dropped.
Wumbadi drove his SUV 50 miles west to the village of Kalaa, where he took refuge in the parish house of Father Lawrence Ikeh. Both parishes are only a few miles away from the Sambisa National Park, where it is believed some 5,000 or more Boko Haram terrorists shelter in underground bunkers.
… On the other side of the spectrum are activists, such as Oluwasayo Ajiboye, with the advocacy group Save the Persecuted Christians. “The Nigerian military is not fighting the war against Muslim radicals with resolve,” he said. Ayiboye has called for the appointment of a Special Envoy to the Niger Basin to bring more military assets from the Trump administration into the region.