Boko Haram to kill ALL South Africans in Nigeria if xenophobia doesn't end within 24 hours

Boko Haram has released a tape stating that they are giving South African government 24 hours within which to make the Xenophobic attacks come to an end, Face of Malawi reported.

If South African government does not contain the situation they will execute all South Africans living in Nigeria, Chad, Niger and other surrounding countries, even the South African Embassies in the African countries.

Boko Haram is a militant group in northeastern Nigeria whose real name is 'Jama'at Ahl al-Sunna li al-Da'awat wa al-Jihad' which means Sunni Group for Preaching and Jihad. The group was founded around 2002, largely to preach an Islamist ideology based on the doctrines of the Taliban as well as groups such as al-Qaeda.

It sought to disassociate itself from the Nigerian state and form a community only of its followers. Boko Haram has abducted over 2,000 young girls and very few have escaped. So dangerous and heartless is the group that tens of thousands of people have been killed in Nigeria by Boko Haram.

Amnesty has documented several of these attacks, including the raid of Baga town on January 3rd, 2015 when 2,000 people were killed and the attack on Bama in March where an estimated 5900 people were killed.

While Boko Haram has no mercy on fellow Nigerians, the group however will not permit other nationals to mess up with their brothers and sisters in xenophobic attacks.

The Zulu king has been accused of fuelling the violence. He denies this. Many jobless South Africans accuse foreigners of taking jobs in a country where the unemployment rate is 24%.

Following recent reports of attacks on non-indigenes residing in South Africa, especially Nigerians, the Nigerian Youths Congress (NYC) has called on the South African authorities to immediately halt the ongoing xenophobic attacks in their territories or have their nationals in Nigeria subjected to similar treatment.

The warning by NYC is in response to disheartening videos making the rounds which showed South African locals attacking and burning foreigners (Nigerians inclusive) alive, and in some instances, looting their shops.

Reacting to the incident, the president, NYC, Comrade Yakubu Shendam, who expressed dismay at the heinous act, regretted that South African authorities are silent on such callous acts perpetrated against a people who have contributed largely to their economic growth.

He said it was ingratitude and sheer act of wickedness for any South African national to contemplate harming foreigners, particularly Nigerians who stood behind them during their trying moments.

He said, "South African citizens are scattered around Nigeria excelling in various businesses and are being protected by the government. In telecommunications alone, what South Africans make from Nigeria is unimaginable.

"If the Nigerian government and people can provide the enabling environment for South Africans to thrive and in turn, her citizens are being maimed and killed for being foreigners, Nigerian youths may be compelled to mete out similar treatment to South Africans operating in the country".

To prove that there are thousands of South Africans in Nigeria, last year 94 South Africans died when Prophet TB Joshua's church collapsed. Every week hundreds of South Africans visit Prophet TB Joshua's church and Pastor Chris' church in a bid to seek divine intervention.

How I escaped marrying a Boko Haram fighter

YOLA, Nigeria — Boko Haram entered Sabon Gari village about 7 p.m. We heard gunshots. The shots sounded like thunder, so the children were jumping and smiling and singing, “Let the rain come, let the rain come.” But I realized it was not thunder.

Boko Haram fighters were everywhere. We saw them on the motorbikes shooting and burning houses. All night, the sound of guns shooting was in the air. They left in the morning. I was so scared, but I didn’t have anywhere else to go, so I stayed.

After the fourth attack, I decided to leave Sabon Gari because I know Boko Haram likes to kidnap girls. I went to Gulak to live with my great-aunt. Later I learned that Boko Haram attacked Sabon Gari a fifth time.

Then in September, Boko Haram came to Gulak. As soon as I heard the gunshots, I told my great aunt that I am leaving Gulak. The old woman became sad, and she asked me to stay with her because she is old and did not want to be left by herself. I told her that I cannot stay because Boko Haram kidnaps girls my age. She understood, so I fled. I ran, joined by a Muslim woman who was a distant relative. As we were running, we saw a soldier behind us. At first, we were alarmed. We thought it was a Boko Haram member wearing a soldier uniform. But the soldier told us not to worry, that he is also running away from Boko Haram.

The woman and I fled into the bush and spent about a week sleeping and eating there. It was uncomfortable, and I suffered.

I hated staying in the bush, especially when it rained. I decided it was better to leave the bush, even if Boko Haram killed me. So the woman and I ran to a mountain. At night, it was cold. And after a few days living there, Boko Haram came very close to where we were staying. We escaped and went to a house we saw in another village.

We stayed with a Muslim family there for some days, but then we heard Boko Haram fighters. They were coming fast, so we all ran away. The family told us they were going to Gulak. They told me to join them there, but I told them that Boko Haram fighters are inside Gulak. They told me that they would protect me because they are Muslims with good knowledge of the Quran, so Boko Haram will not harm them. I decided to follow them, but Boko Haram was still shooting in the street, and I somehow lost the Muslim family. I kept running, looking for them, but I could not find them. So I joined some women on the street who were also running toward Gulak.


In Gulak I found the Muslim family who had taken care of me. They told me I need to leave because Boko Haram is going around, killing people who are not Muslims.

So I left. I didn’t know where to go, but I knew I just had to run. In my confusion, I bumped into some young Christian girls. We went to hide in the mountains and heard many gunshots. We could not detect where the gunshots were coming from because the mountains made the sound of gunshots echo. I was so confused. We ran down the mountain, and we got lost. And that’s how we ended back up in Gulak. Right away, a Boko Haram member saw me and told me to stop running. He threatened to shoot my legs, but the other Boko Haram member with him said it is not good to shoot women.

I asked them where are they taking me to. They told me they are taking me to a place where I will worship Allah. In Gulak they drove to a big house that was surrounded by a barbed wire fence. When I entered the house, I saw many other girls who were close to my age. They, too, had been abducted. I saw some of the Christian girls I met in the mountains.

Boko Haram members asked if we will convert to Islam, and we said no. There were some girls who did agree to convert, so the insurgents separated those who agreed to convert and those who did not. They held a big knife up to my neck and asked me, “You do not want to convert to Islam? We will kill you along with this retired soldier we captured over there who also refuses to convert.” So I finally said, “Yes, I will convert.” I begged them not to kill me.

They brought out one man who they said they had captured from a neighboring village. They put him on the ground. The man begged for his life. Then the insurgents set their flag behind the man and slaughtered him right in front of us girls.

There were many Boko Haram fighters in that house. They had long hair, which they brush down and pack it into three long braids. They were very dirty. Some of them wore turbans on their heads. They were speaking many languages — Kanuri, Arabic, Hausa and Fulani.

I stayed in that house from October until January. Every day, we had to pray five times and read our Quranic studies, but I would often forget to do so. Whenever they found me not praying or studying the Quran, they would beat me and the other girls, 10 lashes each. If we did not wake up early enough in the morning to pray, they poured cold water on us. One day, they dragged out one girl who refused to pray, pulling her in front of us so we could see them shout at her. They said they will take her to Madagali town, to a place that they call their prison. The girl disappeared, and for six days we never saw her. When they returned, she had changed. She did her prayers and Quranic studies without complaint.

I was suffering so much. We saw the women that the Boko Haram members use as cooks in another part of the house. Sometimes the women would pity us and sneak us extra food.

Every day, more girls arrived in the house from other towns that Boko Haram had attacked. They kept kidnapping women and girls. The number of girls I shared a bedroom with kept growing, from 10 to 20 to 30. It’s a very big house.

As for the prayers, I just didn’t want to do it. I would lie and tell them I am menstruating, so I cannot pray. But the Boko Haram leaders knew I was lying so they would beat me. One day, the boy who teaches us the Quran — his name was Adamu Yusuf — beat me so bad that I had bloody bruises all over my legs. I was crying. The Boko Haram leader of the house heard me crying, and he called me by the new name they had given me, Fatima. He asked, “Fatima why are you crying?” I told him that Adamu Yusuf had beat me. The leader scolded Adamu and said he should not beat women and girls. He said they are to do the work of God and beating people like this is not good.

But Adamu Yusuf liked to beat us. He even beat a pregnant woman. The Boko Haram leader was so angry, and he shouted at Adamu that pregnant women should not be maltreated. He said, “Pregnant women are our mothers. If you beat them, God will surely punish you, because we are to do the work of God.”

That’s how they kept us there in that house. I think there were about 200 women and girls there. They kept us under heavy guard, especially the younger girls like me.

Then one day in December, they told us we will soon be getting married. We cried and pleaded. The Boko Haram fighters became angry and asked us why are we crying. They said we are still behaving like infidels who refuse to marry their strong fighters. They told us, “Who do you think you are? Are you too good to get married to us? We are doing the work of God.”

They called us into a room one afternoon and introduced us one by one to some of the Boko Haram fighters. They introduced me to a guy they call “One Arab,” because he looked like an Arab man. His hair was long, and he had light skin. My other friends Zeinab — who was born with the name Sarah — Katturah and Maryam were also led to meet some of the men there. Maryam was to be married to Maman. Katturah was supposed to marry Mallam Ramat. And Zeinab was given to Direban Sambisa. We called him Sambisa because he was always driving back and forth to the Sambisa Forest. Sambisa is where Boko Haram has their main camp.

The Boko Haram fighters asked me, “Do you see this man, ‘One Arab’?” I said yes. They said, “You will marry him in a few weeks’ time. We will marry all of you off.” We fell down and starting crying and pleaded to them. We told them we are not ready to get married. They started shouting at us. They leader came and told us it is final, we will get married, and we should stop crying because we are not better than them. He asked us, “Do you think you are better than those Chibok girls that we kidnapped?” He said the Chibok girls are enjoying their matrimonial homes. He said the Chibok girls have accepted the message of Boko Haram and have turned against their parents. He said the Chibok girls are ready to slit their parents’ throats if they ever see them again. He told us we must accept true Islam because even the Chibok girls have accepted the religion. Then he told us to stop crying or they will kill us.

He said, “Fatima, wherever you go, even if you run all the way to Yola, we will run after you and kill you.” He said I can never escape. Then he started talking about President [Goodluck] Jonathan, and he said Jonathan is an infidel and that they will slit his throat.

By that time, my friends and I were planning our escape. Many other girls had tried to escape, but they were always caught at the gate.

They would not let us go anywhere. We tried to ask them if we can go out into the bush to look for vegetables to cook soup, but they refused. They said girls from our tribe have long legs and we run fast so they will not be able to catch us if we escape.

One day, some of the girls made food. I was in the bedroom when I heard the Boko Haram guards ask for some. They said girls from our tribe are good cooks. So the girls gave food to the guards, and the guards fell asleep. As they slept, the girls went to get a blanket to throw over the barbed wire fence. They climbed up a ladder and jumped over the fence.

That’s how they escaped.

But the guards woke up and realized what happened. The guards were so angry. They asked us what did the girls put in the food that made them fall asleep. I said I didn’t know.

They went outside the compound looking for the girls, and they returned with the pregnant one. She told me she could not run fast enough because of her pregnancy, so she asked a woman in a village down the road to shelter her. Boko Haram went to the house and asked the woman if she is hiding anyone there. The woman said yes, and Boko Haram grabbed her.

The Boko Haram men told her she cannot go anywhere and the child she is carrying in her womb belongs to them.

When the pregnant woman returned to the house, she became so obedient and would always follow Boko Haram’s instructions. They were very pleased with her behavior and her excellence in studying the Quran. So they gave her some money and took her out of the compound. I never saw her again.

There was one day, I was not feeling well. My body was aching, and I became ill. The Boko Haram people brought their doctor, and the doctor connected me to a drip and gave me four injections. I started to feel better. I decided it was my time to escape. It was getting nearer to the wedding day, and I wanted to leave the house.

Me, a girl named Janet, another girl named Hassana and another named Hadja went to the well to fetch water. We told the other girls in the house that we want to wash our clothes. Then we wore a full veil, the one that only exposes the eyes — the niqab. We wanted to try to look like Boko Haram’s wives, because they wear a niqab. We took our clothes and tied some of them around our bodies so we can have a change of clothes. We disguised these clothes under the niqab to make it appear as if we were carrying babies on our backs.

The guards were not around, so we quickly threw a blanket over the barbed wire, climbed up the fence and jumped. We were finally outside the compound!

We walked out and saw some Boko Haram members standing by the roadside. They greeted us with “Assalamu alaikum.” We responded with “Wa alaikum assalam.” They asked, “Who are you?” We told them, “We are the wives of the rijale” — the strong men, because that is how the Boko Haram refer to themselves. So they allowed us to pass.

As we walked along, one of the girls became worried and said we will get caught and get killed. She pleaded for us to go back to the house. We said no. We told her the Boko Haram members will not remove our veils to check our faces. So we continued trekking.

We saw an old man, and we asked him how to get to Cameroon. He showed us the way.

As we walked, we saw so many destroyed villages, burned-down houses, rotting corpses. We even saw cracked tombstones at graveyards and overturned coffins. We saw another set of old people. They asked us where are we going. We told them we are looking for the road to Cameroon. The old people pointed to the road to Cameroon, and they told us not to remove our niqab until we reach a village called Palam. They said once we reach Palam, we must take off our niqab because the villagers there will kill us because they will suspect we are from Boko Haram.

They advised us to avoid the main road and go through the guinea cornfields.

So we walked through farm fields, and the sun was burning. We were sweating in the niqab, and the prickly grasses kept getting caught on our fabric. We were too tired. Then we saw a Boko Haram man driving toward us on a motorbike. He was carrying a machete. We ran so fast but he was after us, yelling, “I will kill you. You are the type of people who will report us in Yola.”

The man’s motorbike skidded off the road, and he tumbled off but started running after us. Hassana, the oldest of us, shouted to keep running and not look back. I couldn’t keep up, so I stopped to hide under some leaves. I dropped the clothes I had placed on my back, my Christian baptismal card and my photographs. The Boko Haram man who was chasing us couldn’t find us, and we heard him stop. We were lucky he did not have a gun, or else he would have just shot us.

We saw some women sitting by the roadside in Palam, and we asked them to show us how to get to Cameroon. They asked us where were we coming from. We lied and told them we were living in the mountains and ran out of food. We asked the women if we can remove our niqab. They told us not to remove it because some Muslims living in the area will notice and will alert Boko Haram.

We left the women, and after some time, I removed the niqab, but my friends kept theirs on. We saw a Christian woman roasting groundnuts, and she asked, “Who are you?” We told her that we had escaped from those people. She pointed at the road to Cameroon, and we continued. The niqab became too heavy for my friends, so they took off their niqab and handed it over to some old women we saw standing by a tree. It was nighttime.

We reached a village called Palam B and saw so many burned houses and a burned church.

My friends and I decided to sleep in Palam B. We entered a compound and saw a Muslim family praying. We decided not to stay with a Muslim family, so we left. We saw a Christian woman, and we asked if we can stay with her. She refused. We asked her if there is anyone around from Gulak. She told us to go farther down the road and we will see a woman from Gulak.

We soon saw a woman from Gulak, and she gave us a room to sleep in. She said villagers in Palam B have been anxious because new Boko Haram recruits in the village had delivered a letter from Boko Haram threatening to kill them.

We stayed with her for two days, until she told us we had to leave because she learned that Boko Haram knew we were in the town because of the niqab that we had given to the women on the street.

She told us to run straight to Cameroon and not to pass through a village called Sina, because villagers there will kill us once they realize we had lived with Boko Haram.

We left, and on our way, we met a man who asked us if we had cellphones. I was the only one. But Boko Haram had deleted everything that had been in my phone, including all the Christian songs I had saved. They put in their own war chants and messages.

The man advised me to throw away the phone. He warned us that farther down the road, we might meet some people who will strip us naked and search us. If they find anything on us that looks like it came from Boko Haram, they will kill us.

Moving toward the Cameroonian border, we did not see a single person. We were all alone, surrounded by more burned houses and churches.

Then we saw a Muslim woman resting under a tree with her children. She told us that she fled from Michika and is on her way to Cameroon but will return to Nigeria to join her husband in the city of Jos. My friends and I accompanied the woman and her children to Cameroon. We arrived at the border on a Tuesday, and there some teenage boys harassed us, saying we cannot enter until we give them money. We explained to them that we are running for our lives and we don’t have money. The boys blocked our way and said if we don’t give them money, they will report us to the Cameroonian soldiers. The Muslim woman gave money to the boys, and we were allowed to enter Cameroon. We slept in the street because the people were not friendly and they did not want to help.

When we woke up, we decided to leave Cameroon, but Zeinab was still suffering from a leg injury she got when we jumped over the fence from the Boko Haram house in Gulak. Her leg was swollen, and we had to leave her. We told the Muslim woman that we are leaving. She blessed us, bought food for us to eat and then gave us 500 naira. She helped us to try to get a ride to Mubi, but none of the drivers were willing to take us there. So we told her goodbye, and we walked several kilometers to Mubi.

In the market there I met a girl I used to know from Sabon Gari. She was so happy to see me. I told her my story, and she gave me money for my friends and me to pay for transportation. Later we heard that Boko Haram is on its way to Mubi. Everyone in the town began to panic. We searched for a ride, but there was no room in anyone’s car. So we gathered along with other people who were walking, and we walked until we reached a town called Maiha. I went to a parking lot to look for a vehicle to take us to Yola and heard someone call me by my native name.

I looked and saw a man I used to know in Sabon Gari. He asked me why I looked so dirty and tired. I told him everything that happened, and he took my friends and me to his home to meet his wife and children. They took care of us. They, too, had been displaced by Boko Haram.

He gave me money for transportation, and on Jan. 18, my friends and I were in a car on the way to Yola.

My friends and I sat on the road once we arrived in Yola. We were not used to the city, and we were confused. I saw a girl who I know from home, and she was excited to see me. She told me that I have an uncle who is staying at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church. I went to the church, and now I am safe.

Boko Haram In Ghana

Managing editor of the Insight Newspaper, Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr has downplayed nervousness caused by some security experts that billboards mounted at vantage points in Accra by some Nigeria’s leading political parties ahead of the country’s presidential elections pose a Boko Haram insurgent in Ghana.

Several billboards of Nigerian political contenders including President Goodluck Jonathan and opposition leader, Muhammadu Buhari have been splashed at various points in Accra only to attract the attention of Nigeria residents living in Ghana.

Some political pundits and security experts fears and believe the erection of these billboards of political parties in Nigeria could call the attention of the terrorist group in Ghana.

Mr. Pratt speaking on Peace FM, said those fears are misplaced and over-exaggerated due to the cordial relationship between the two countries.

According to him, “It’s not the billboards that will attract the Boko Haram guys...If we say the billboards are too many and we want to complain about that, no problem. But we should not say the billboards shouldn’t be erected at all.

“When you go to Lagos, you see Ghanaian companies doing businesses in Nigeria erecting billboards in their town. So if Ghanaian products can have billboards in their country, why can’t they also have theirs here? Of course this is a political product but still” he added.

100 Beheaded, Throat-Slit Bodies Found In Northeast Nigeria

100 bodies, many with their throats slit, have been found in a mass grave on the edge of a town in northeast Nigeria.

Up to 100 bodies, many with their throats slit, have been found in a mass grave on the edge of a town in northeast Nigeria after it was freed from Boko Haram militants.

Soldiers from Chad and Niger who have liberated Damasak from the Islamist group said they discovered the bodies under a bridge on one of the main roads leading out of the town.

Chad's military spokesman Colonel Azem Bermandoa Agouna said: "There are about 100 bodies spread around under the bridge just outside the town... this is the work of Boko Haram."

A Reuters witness said they had counted at least 70 bodies.

Col Agouna, who visited the scene himself close to the border with Niger, claimed the massacre probably occurred about two months ago because the bodies were partially mummified by the dry desert air.

He said several of the victims had been decapitated while others had been shot.

"There are heads here and bodies there, the mass grave has become like a termite mound," he added.

Damasak was seized by Boko Haram in November but recaptured by troops from Niger and Chad on 9 March as part of a multinational effort to wipe out the militants.

All but around 50 of the town's residents had fled by the time Damasak was recaptured. Those who remained were mostly too old or too sick to leave.

Damasak resident Mbodou Moussa said: "People were in town when they (Boko Haram) attacked, they fired at us, we ran away to the bushes but they continued to fire and chased some people to kill them."

Boko Haram has killed thousands of people in a six-year insurgency aimed at establishing an Islamic caliphate in northeast Nigeria.

The regional offensive was launched this year with Chad, Niger and Cameroon as Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and biggest economy, prepares for presidential elections on 28 March.

Nigeria's president Goodluck Jonathan has been criticised for not doing enough to tackle the insurgency.

His challenger Muhammadu Buhari has campaigned on a reputation for toughness gained when he was military ruler of Nigeria in the 1980s.
Source: Sky News

MILITARY: Boko Haram 'bomb factory discovered' by Nigerian troops.

Abuja (AFP) - Nigeria's military said on Friday that it had uncovered a Boko Haram bomb-making factory in the northeastern town of Buni Yadi after soldiers retook the town from the insurgents.

Islamist fighters captured the town in Yobe state in August last year as the group seized swathes of territory in the crisis-hit northeast.

The military announced that it had wrested back control last Saturday.

Defence spokesman Chris Olukolade said that search operations in the area led to the discovery of the bomb-making factory manufacturing improvised explosive devices or IEDs.

"A large quantity of IEDs, including those commonly used by suicide bombers were recovered from the site," he added in an emailed statement.

"The factory, which was located in a fertiliser company, has also converted some of the materials therein for production of all types of IEDs.

"Troops are still evacuating the materials which include a large quantity of suicide bomber vests from the facility to their base."

Boko Haram has increasingly used suicide attacks in its six-year campaign to create a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria.

Women and young girls with explosives vests strapped to their bodies have been sent into crowded markets and bus stations, causing mass casualties.

Roadside bombs -- a tactic seen widely in Iraq and Afghanistan by Al-Qaeda-linked militants -- have also been found buried in the ground.

Olukolade said four soldiers were killed by IEDs during the operation to retake Buni Yadi and the advance was delayed because the devices were planted on the road leading into the town.

Nigeria's military, assisted by soldiers from Niger, Chad and Cameroon, as well as South African mercenaries, have made major gains against Boko Haram in recent weeks.

The operation is designed to secure and stabilise the northeast in time for elections to take place in two weeks' time at which President Goodluck Jonathan is seeking re-election.

Olukolade said the discovery of the bomb-making factory "is expected to degrade the capability of terrorists in the production of explosives, which they have been using lavishly in the area".

ISIS welcomes Boko Haram allegiance: tape

Baghdad (AFP) - The Islamic State group welcomed a pledge of allegiance made to it by Boko Haram and vowed to press with its expansion, according to an audiotape Thursday purportedly from its spokesman.

"We announce to you to the good news of the expansion of the caliphate to West Africa because the caliph... has accepted the allegiance of our brothers of the Sunni group for preaching and the jihad," IS spokesman Mohammed al-Adnani said in the message, using the Arabic name for Nigeria's Boko Haram extremist group.

In the tape of some 30 minutes, Adnani urges Muslims to join militants in West Africa and played down "victories" by the US-led coalition and Iraqi forces against his group.

The Sunni radical Sunni movement has seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria and declared an Islamic "caliphate" there. It has also drawn expressions of allegiance from jihadists in Egypt and Libya.

On Saturday, an audiotape attributed to Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said "we announce our allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims, Ibrahim ibn Awad ibn Ibrahim al-Husseini al-Qurashi," referring to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Security analysts have said that pledge may only have propaganda value in the short term but could lead to closer links in the future.

Shekau has previously mentioned Baghdadi in videos but stopped short of pledging formal allegiance.

But there have been increasing signs that the Nigerian militants, whose six-year insurgency has claimed more than 13,000 lives and left 1.5 million people homeless, have been seeking a closer tie-up.


IS's Adnani said Muslims must support Boko Haram in West Africa, and claimed that the Islamic State was growing in strength and expanding.

"Our caliphate is resisting and it is advancing in the right direction. We are fighting the Crusaders and the rafidah (Shiites) and day by day the Islamic State is becoming strong," he said.

The tape's release comes as US Security Council diplomats are drafting a resolution to shore up a regional force fighting Boko Haram, and as Iraqi forces were tightening the noose on IS in Tikrit.

Iraqi forces entered IS-held Tikrit, in the northern province of Salaheddin, on Wednesday after a 10-day push to wrest the city back from the jihadists.

A combination of army, police and volunteer forces moved into northern and southern Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and a main IS stronghold after making major gains around the city.

But Adnani said IS "continues to resist.... and the victories proclaimed by the coalition are only illusions", claiming that only "inches of land" in Iraq had been recaptured by loyalist forces.

And he insisted that the group is "sure of its victory" regardless of the challenges it is facing.

"God is on our side and give us the strength to combat this armada of Crusader countries," he said.

For months, IS has been targeted with air strikes from a coalition led by the United States and already suffered territorial setbacks in Syria and Iraq.

Former SA Koevoet fighter killed in battle against Boko Haram

Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria's north-eastern Borno state, has been the scene of intense fighting between Boko Haram and pro-government militias fighting alongside government troops. File photo
Image by: AFP PHOTO / BOKO HARAM

A private South African para-military specialist has been killed in an attack by Nigerian Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram.

Former Koevoet member Leon Lotz, of KwaZulu-Natal, is among scores of former South African security force personnel helping to train government and allied forces to fight the insurgents.

The group of which Lotz was a member is believed to be contracted to the Nigerian government. It does not have the support of the South African government.

Lotz and five others, including another foreigner and four Nigerian soldiers, were killed on Monday near Maiduguri.

The nationality of the other foreigner is not known.

Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria's north-eastern Borno state, has been the scene of intense fighting between Boko Haram and pro-government militias fighting alongside government troops.

About 80 South Africans are providing assistance to the forces engaging Boko Haram in the form of advice on military tactics and intelligence gathering, and training in the use of heavy weapons and advanced fighting techniques.

Lotz's neice, Vanes-Mari du Toit, posted on Facebook: "What an absolute honour knowing you. You fought for what was right, always had the best advice.

"Today I say goodbye to a legend of an uncle, who passed away in battle fighting Boko Haram ... Rus sag, Oom (Rest softly, Uncle)."

Nigeria military says kills 300 Boko Haram militants in counter offensive

MAROUA, Cameroon/MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian forces have killed more than 300 Boko Haram fighters during an operation to recapture 11 towns and villages since the start of the week, the military said on Wednesday, as regional neighbours also pounded the militants.

"Weapons and equipment were also captured and some destroyed," defence spokesman Major-General Chris Olukolade said in a statement. "However, two soldiers lost their lives while 10 others were wounded," he added.

It was not possible to independently verify the military's statement. Nigerian forces have in past been accused of overstating enemy casualties while greatly understating their own and those of civilians caught in the crossfire. 

Cameroonian forces supported by Chad's air force carried out air strikes and used heavy artillery against Boko Haram in the village of Gourgouroon, on the Nigeria-Cameroon border, Cameroon army spokesman Colonel Didier Badjeck said.

Boko Haram's relentless attacks on military and civilians have killed thousands since the group launched its violent campaign for a breakaway Islamic state in mid-2009, threatening the stability of Africa's biggest economy and top oil producer as well as that of the entire region.

Boko Haram was cited as a reason for postponing by six weeks a Nigerian presidential election that had been due to take place this past Saturday. In a video on Tuesday, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau appeared in a video monitored by the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group in which he threatened to disrupt the upcoming vote.

But in the past two weeks the tide has appeared to turn against them, as neighbours Chad, Cameroon and Niger, all of whom are plagued by Boko Haram insurgents, have weighed in.

VICTORIES

Nigerian soldiers recaptured the strategic town of Monguno, on the shores of Lake Chad where the four countries meet, from Boko Haram on Monday. More than 5,000 people fled the town after the insurgents seized it last month.

Olukolade said troops had seized five types of armoured fighting vehicles, an anti-aircraft gun, 50 cases of bombs, eight different types of machine guns, some 50 cases of ammunition and 300 motorcycles the rebels use to launch attacks.

Chadian troops cleared Boko Haram out of Nigeria's Gamburu earlier this month. Niger soldiers shot dead a suicide bomber suspected of belonging to Islamist militant group Boko Haram on Monday after he tried to detonate an explosive belt near a military post in the southern Niger town of Bagara. 

Violence in the northeast has hurt the re-election prospects of President Goodluck Jonathan, accused of doing too little to protect civilians from the militants, although recent victories could swing public opinion in his favour. 

The growing cooperation between Nigeria's neighbours is also attracting donor support to fight the Islamists, with the U.S. army providing equipment and intelligence to allies.

Presidents from the 10-nation Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC) pledged on Monday to create an emergency fund of 50 billion CFA francs ($87 million) to the fight.

Boko Haram invades Kogi prison, frees 143

The police and the Army have launched a manhunt for inmates of the Koton-Karfi Prison in Kogi State, who were set free by gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram insurgents.

There were about 145 inmates in the 80-year-old prison as of 10pm on Sunday when the gunmen gained entry into the prison   by blowing up its iron bars with an improvised explosive device.

A male prison officer and an inmate were injured while another inmate   was   found dead after the attackers left.

Twelve of those who fled were said to have returned to the prison under controversial circumstances.

A prison source told one of our correspondents on Monday that the 12 returned of their own volition but the Nigeria Prisons Service Public Relations Officer, Ope Fatinikun, said they were captured.

Fatinikun added, ‘‘Unknown gunmen invaded Koton- Karfe prison between 9.30am and 10pm and immediately it happened, the acting Comptroller-General of Prisons, Aminu Suley,   informed the Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, and the Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, and they ordered policemen and soldiers to beef up security around the prison and to arrest the fleeing inmates.”

The gunmen were said to have also   broken some of the prison’s walls before vandalising its record office.

Our source who pleaded anonymity said sounds of gunshots caused     panic close to the prison which is located on the Lokoja-Abuja Road.

According to him, the gunmen operated unchallenged for hours   before security operatives arrived in the prison after they had left.

The comptroller-General of the NPS   told   journalists when he visited the Prison in company with   Governor   Idris Wada on Monday that the gunmen forcibly freed the inmates.

He said that 26 of the inmates were convicts   while 119 were   awaiting trial for different offences.

He lamented the congestion of the prison and pleaded with Wada to prevail on the judiciary to quicken  the trial of those on awaiting list.

Wada said he would invoke his power of prerogative of mercy to set free some of the inmates.

He said that he would also urge   the chief judge of the state to free some of the inmates.

The governor said security operatives were prompt in their response when they were alerted, adding that it was regrettable that much damage had been done before their arrival.

He also decried the deterioration of the prison, saying it was not good for human habitation

The governor promised to provide beddings for the inmates who had been forced to live in sub-human conditions.

Wada urged the Federal Government to expedite action on the new Koto-karfi prison. He added that when the   prison was completed, the old building which was established in 1934 would become a tourism centre.

The Koton-Karfe prison was   attacked in February 2012 by   Boko Haram members who freed 119 inmates.

Meanwhile, the Police in Yobe State have confirmed the killing of   four persons   by a suicide bomber who attacked   a religious procession in Potiskum.

This figure was however disputed by the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in   the town, Mustapha Lawan, who lamented that 26 people died in the incident.

The suicide bomber was said to have joined the procession by Shiites muslims celebrating the annual Ashurah (the 10th day of Muharram 1436 celebration).

The state Commissioner of Police,  Markus Danladi, who addressed journalists, said that five people were injured in the blast.

He said, “The blast killed three members of the Muslim brotherhood plus the bomber. Before we got to the scene, the group had evacuated the bodies of those effected by the blast.” 

But Lawan told journalists on the telephone that apart from the 13 persons who died on the spot, 13 others who were among the injured   later passed on where they were being treated.

Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Gaidam condemned the attack on the   procession as heinous, barbaric and unwarranted.

The governor, in a   statement by his media aide, Abdullahi Bego, said it was regrettable that the attack came at a time that peace was gradually returning to the state.

Gaidam, who described those behind the attack as “criminals who want to fan the embers of religious discord,” called on   the people   to remain calm and vigilant.

The governor directed government hospitals in the area to provide immediate medical treatment to all the victims of the attack free of charge.