Nigerian military retakes Chibok village

UPDATE: Nigerian military officials report they have retaken the beleaguered town of Chibok from Boko Haram militants in northern Nigeria.

Insurgents from the terror group seized the town last week, nearly seven months after kidnapping some 300 schoolgirls from the predominantly Christian village.

The BBC reports local vigilante groups helped the Nigerian army retake Chibok over the weekend.

It’s a symbolically important victory for the Nigerian government, still reeling from criticism that it has mishandled search and recovery efforts for the town’s missing girls.

But it’s also a late intervention: Many residents of Chibok—who pleaded for more military protection for months—fled the town last week as Islamist militants swept in and hoisted their black flag.

Meanwhile, surrounding villages remain vulnerable, with little or no protection from the Nigerian government. It’s unclear whether displaced residents will return to Chibok after the Nigerian military’s intervention this weekend. But one thing is clear: There’s still no sign of the missing girls.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (Nov. 15, 11 a.m.): In northern Nigeria, Boko Haram’s conquest of the predominantly Christian village of Chibok is complete. Earlier this week, the Islamist militants seized control of the town where they kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls in April.

Villagers said the militants invaded Chibok on Thursday night, and arrived in the same make of Toyota Hilux pickup trucks they used when kidnapping hundreds of schoolgirls from the village this spring.

The insurgents “started shooting at all possible targets,” one resident told The Wall Street Journal. Witnesses say the militants then hoisted their black flag above the town. Boko Haram has declared its intention to create an Islamist caliphate in northern Nigeria.

Many residents fled Chibok, and it wasn’t immediately clear if anyone was killed in the attack. Thousands of Nigerians have died since Boko Haram heightened its insurgency in 2011. The U.S.-based Council on Foreign Relations estimates nearly 15,000 deaths in three years.

The invasion of Chibok was particularly galling: For months, residents pleaded with the Nigerian military for more protection against Boko Haram threats. Villagers feared the militants would return to take the town as a symbolic prize, as world attention remained on the schoolgirls kidnapped from the village in April.

Emmanuel Ogebe, a Nigerian attorney based in the United States, told WORLD in July the Nigerian military wasn’t doing enough to protect Chibok, and villagers feared for their lives: “They have been left to their own fate.”

In November, the Nigerian government announced it had reached a ceasefire with Boko Haram, and claimed the militants agreed to release the missing girls. The terror group later denied those claims, and said the girls had been married off to their Islamist captors.

When Boko Haram returned to Chibok on Thursday night, residents said a small contingent of Nigerian soldiers posted outside quickly ran away.

Meanwhile, dozens of residents of the predominantly Christian town of Gwoza remain hidden on a nearby mountain after Boko Haram militants invaded their village earlier this year. On Thursday, an estimated 16 villagers were killed when they emerged to search for food, according to Reuters.

Nearly a year ago, leaders of the Nigerian denomination Church of Christ in Nations sent a letter to state officials, asking for protection from Boko Haram and reporting the terror group’s ongoing threats and plots against local Christians in Gwoza. Eight months later, Boko Haram seized the town.

“We consider it an onerous task to bring to your notice an attempt and grand design to wipe us, Christians, from the face of the earth by some who claim to be members of the Boko Haram sect,” the letter told government officials last year. “Boko Haram has perfected plans to launch an attack … They have now commenced. …”