Over 50 people died in Boko Haram ambush on oil exploration team

More than 50 people were killed in a Boko Haram ambush on an oil
exploration team in northeast Nigeria earlier this week, multiple
sources told AFP on Thursday, warning the death toll could
rise.

Tuesday’s attack in the Magumeri area of Borno state on a convoy
of specialists from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC) was the Islamist militants’ deadliest in months.

It underscored the persistent threat posed by the jihadists,
despite government claims they were a spent force, and also the
risks associated with the hunt for crude in the volatile Lake Chad
basin.

Details of the ambush, which was initially thought to be a
kidnapping attempt, have been slow to emerge and an exact death
toll difficult to establish, as the military strictly controls
access to rural Borno.

elecommunications and other infrastructure have been severely
damaged or destroyed in the conflict, which has left at least
20,000 dead and more than 2.6 million homeless since 2009.

The army said on Wednesday that 10 people were killed in the
attack.

But one source involved in dealing with the aftermath told AFP
on Thursday: “The death toll keeps mounting. Now we have more than
50… and more bodies are coming in.

“It’s clear that the attack wasn’t for abduction. They (Boko
Haram) attacked just to kill.”

– Missing staff –

An aid agency worker in Magumeri, which is 50 kilometres (32
miles) northwest of Maiduguri, said 47 bodies were recovered from
the bush as of Wednesday evening.

“Eleven of them were badly burned in the attack. They were
burned alive in their vehicle, which was stuck in a trench,” he
added.

“We buried them here because they couldn’t be taken to
Maiduguri.

“This evening (Thursday), six more bodies were recovered,
including one soldier, and many more could be recovered because
search and rescue teams are all over the place.”

A medical source at the Nigerian Army 7th Division headquarters
at Maimalari barracks in Maiduguri said: “So far we have 18 dead
soldiers. Ten were brought yesterday and eight more today.”

At the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), a
medical worker said: “We have 19 bodies at the moment of
civilians.

“Fifteen of them were vigilantes (civilian militia) and four
were staff from the university. They have been taken for
burial.”

The head of the academic staff union at the University of
Maiduguri, Dani Mamman, confirmed they had received four bodies and
said two of them were academics.

“We got the impression our staff on the team were rescued
because that was what the military spokesman said yesterday,” he
added.

“But we were shocked when we were given four dead bodies. This
means it wasn’t a rescue.

“We still have other staff that are yet to be accounted
for.”

– Show of force? –

In a statement, Nigeria’s junior oil minister and the former
head of the NNPC Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu described the attack as
“unfortunate” but did not give a death toll.

OPEC-member Nigeria is looking to find new oil reserves away
from the southern Niger Delta, which has been blighted by attacks
from militants wanting a fairer share of revenue for local
people.

With production hit by the attacks, there has been a shift in
focus to explore inland basins, including around Lake Chad in the
northeast, where Nigeria meets Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Both Chad and Niger are exploiting reserves on their side of the
freshwater lake.

Activities on the Nigerian side had to stop in November 2014
because of Boko Haram violence but the military gave permission to
resume exploration in November last year, according to
Kachikwu.

Work is centred on a triangle of hotly contested land stretching
from Gubio in the west of Borno to Marte in the east, and Kukawa,
in the far northeast corner near the shores of the lake.

There has been no serious suggestion that Boko Haram is
motivated by a desire to control oil in northeast Nigeria.

But fighters, squeezed out of captured territory by the military
counter-insurgency, may have been keen to make a show of force
against the soldiers and civilian militia guarding the NNPC
team.

In recent months, the Islamic State group affiliate has been
forced to rely on guerilla tactics, particularly suicide bomb
attacks, against the security forces and civilian militia.

Women and young girls, in particular, have been used against
civilian “soft” targets such as mosques, as well as the university
in Maiduguri, which teaches the “western” education the group
despises.

AFP

More than 50 people were killed in a Boko Haram ambush on an oil
exploration team in northeast Nigeria earlier this week, multiple
sources told AFP on Thursday, warning the death toll could
rise.

Tuesday’s attack in the Magumeri area of Borno state on a convoy
of specialists from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC) was the Islamist militants’ deadliest in months.

It underscored the persistent threat posed by the jihadists,
despite government claims they were a spent force, and also the
risks associated with the hunt for crude in the volatile Lake Chad
basin.

Details of the ambush, which was initially thought to be a
kidnapping attempt, have been slow to emerge and an exact death
toll difficult to establish, as the military strictly controls
access to rural Borno.

elecommunications and other infrastructure have been severely
damaged or destroyed in the conflict, which has left at least
20,000 dead and more than 2.6 million homeless since 2009.

The army said on Wednesday that 10 people were killed in the
attack.

But one source involved in dealing with the aftermath told AFP
on Thursday: “The death toll keeps mounting. Now we have more than
50… and more bodies are coming in.

“It’s clear that the attack wasn’t for abduction. They (Boko
Haram) attacked just to kill.”

– Missing staff –

An aid agency worker in Magumeri, which is 50 kilometres (32
miles) northwest of Maiduguri, said 47 bodies were recovered from
the bush as of Wednesday evening.

“Eleven of them were badly burned in the attack. They were
burned alive in their vehicle, which was stuck in a trench,” he
added.

“We buried them here because they couldn’t be taken to
Maiduguri.

“This evening (Thursday), six more bodies were recovered,
including one soldier, and many more could be recovered because
search and rescue teams are all over the place.”

A medical source at the Nigerian Army 7th Division headquarters
at Maimalari barracks in Maiduguri said: “So far we have 18 dead
soldiers. Ten were brought yesterday and eight more today.”

At the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), a
medical worker said: “We have 19 bodies at the moment of
civilians.

“Fifteen of them were vigilantes (civilian militia) and four
were staff from the university. They have been taken for
burial.”

The head of the academic staff union at the University of
Maiduguri, Dani Mamman, confirmed they had received four bodies and
said two of them were academics.

“We got the impression our staff on the team were rescued
because that was what the military spokesman said yesterday,” he
added.

“But we were shocked when we were given four dead bodies. This
means it wasn’t a rescue.

“We still have other staff that are yet to be accounted
for.”

– Show of force? –

In a statement, Nigeria’s junior oil minister and the former
head of the NNPC Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu described the attack as
“unfortunate” but did not give a death toll.

OPEC-member Nigeria is looking to find new oil reserves away
from the southern Niger Delta, which has been blighted by attacks
from militants wanting a fairer share of revenue for local
people.

With production hit by the attacks, there has been a shift in
focus to explore inland basins, including around Lake Chad in the
northeast, where Nigeria meets Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Both Chad and Niger are exploiting reserves on their side of the
freshwater lake.

Activities on the Nigerian side had to stop in November 2014
because of Boko Haram violence but the military gave permission to
resume exploration in November last year, according to
Kachikwu.

Work is centred on a triangle of hotly contested land stretching
from Gubio in the west of Borno to Marte in the east, and Kukawa,
in the far northeast corner near the shores of the lake.

There has been no serious suggestion that Boko Haram is
motivated by a desire to control oil in northeast Nigeria.

But fighters, squeezed out of captured territory by the military
counter-insurgency, may have been keen to make a show of force
against the soldiers and civilian militia guarding the NNPC
team.

In recent months, the Islamic State group affiliate has been
forced to rely on guerilla tactics, particularly suicide bomb
attacks, against the security forces and civilian militia.

Women and young girls, in particular, have been used against
civilian “soft” targets such as mosques, as well as the university
in Maiduguri, which teaches the “western” education the group
despises.

AFP