Limited supplies of weapons, fuel, food crippling Boko Haram

A multi-national offensive against Boko Haram in Nigeria has freed hundreds of captives in recent weeks. Some former hostages say the Islamic extremist group is plagued by infighting and running short on weapons, food, and fuel.

The offensive cut off Boko Haram’s supply lines, and the Nigerian military says it has retaken all major towns seized by the terrorists, cornering them in the Sambisa Forest where they are subject to air raids and helicopter attacks. Reuters reported the shortages were increasing tensions among the Boko Haram fighters, according to women now freed from captivity.

But U.S. intelligence experts warn that doesn’t mean Boko Haram has been defeated, according to The Daily Beast. It noted Boko Haram continues to carry out attacks. In one of the most recent, the militants stormed a business school in Yobe state on May 8, killing three students and injuring 20, Nigeria’s Daily Post reported.

“We are not getting reports of large numbers of Boko Haram being captured,” J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Washington-based Atlantic Council, told The Daily Beast. “They kept their prisoners as long as they could, and the fighters are slinking away.”

Especially since Boko Haram’s leader has pledged allegiance to ISIS, Pham said the group should still be considered an insurgency: “And they can evolve very quickly into a terrorist organization.”

The multi-national military efforts freed roughly 700 women and children in a single week earlier this month.

Many of those rescued were visibly malnourished, according to Reuters.

“We just have to give praise to God that we are alive, those of us who have survived,” 27-year-old Lami Musa said. She was one of 275 women and children freed in a single day. Children, many of them under age 5, made up about 75 percent of that group, NPR reported.

Musa said Boko Haram planned to force her to marry one of its commanders. But because she was already pregnant when kidnapped, the Islamic extremists were waiting until after she delivered the baby to marry her off. Musa gave birth to a baby girl the night before soldiers came to the rescue.

Food wasn’t the only supply running short in the terrorists’ camps.

“One evening in April, Boko Haram followers stood before us and said ‘Our leaders don’t want to give us enough fuel and guns and now the soldiers are encroaching on us in Sambisa. We will leave you,’” 18-year old Binta Ibrahim told Reuters. Another rescued woman said when she was taken, all the Boko Haram fighters carried guns, but now only some do.

That prompted speculation that low weapons supplies could be the reason Boko Haram resorted to stoning captives who refused to flee with them as the military drew closer. Musa and 20-year-old Salamatu Bulama survived the stoning, but several hostages did not.

Associated Press contributed to this report.