July 11, 2014 – San Francisco, CA – PipeLineNews.org – While world attention has turned to the renewed intensity of the Syrian/Iraqi conflict, especially with regard to ISSA [ see for example, William Mayer, The Exponential Growth of Revolutionary Islam Under President Obama , PipeLineNews.org] it's important to remember that, unfortunately, jihadist terror in Africa continues to ramp up.
This is especially true in the case of Nigeria's Boko Haram.
On June 25, the Nigerian al-Qaeda franchise bombed a fuel depot in Lagos resulting in numerous casualties. The toll could have been horrific if any of the fuel containers had been set ablaze, the obvious intent of the attack.
It now appears that the blast was the result of a suicide driver at the wheel of a bomb laden vehicle and not, as previously though, a vehicle IED, parked curbside. [for further reference: Boko Haram Fuel Depot Attack Was Suicide Bombing Security Analysts Say , LA Times]
The conflict is gaining vigor as the death toll continues to rise. But the response to Boko Haram's mayhem by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has been oddly muddled.
Why have the Nigerian Armed Forces [numbering well over 200,000 men] failed so abysmally in combating the group?
On dozens of occasions official spokesmen have claimed huge victories by government forces over the terror group and been then forced to recant their words when it becomes apparent that the claims were intentionally misleading. [see , It Looks Like Nigeria Is Trying To Cover Up Boko Haram's Latest Attack , Business Insider]
Whenever possible the government intentionally under-counts casualties and exaggerates the number of enemy KIA, before having to revise them upwards as the truth leaks out.
"Nigeria's military forces are clearly unable to contain this threat. It's actually worse than that as President Jonathan has at times directed his press representatives to claim that Boko Haram's leader, Shekau, had been killed and group was in disarray. These claims have always been followed by an increase in terror activity, often accompanied by videos featuring an obviously very much alive Abubakar Shekau." [ Nigeria's Boko Haram Hell , PipeLineNews.org]
The big secret however is that elements of Nigeria's fighting force are broadly collaborating with Boko Haram with Muslim commanders in government service passing tips off to the group and apparently even loaning them [or perhaps giving] armored personnel carriers.
It's because of this collusion that the army has been unable to stop the jihadist offensive.
"Community leaders went to military officials in Pulka to report the attack and were assured that a unit would protect the town's people…The following day some people appeared in Nigeria Army issue in nine armored personnel carriers bearing the colors and insignia of the Nigerian Army," the wrote. "They announced to the villagers that they had come to assess the security situation. When the people gathered to hear them, the men that came in armored personnel carriers and in Army uniform opened fire and killed over 250 men, women and children….The assailants pursued those who fled into the bush and butchered them with knives or shot them to death…when some Muslim commanding officers and others receive reports from our communities, they pass such reports to Boko Haram, who come in Nigerian Army issue uniforms to perpetrate pogroms in our communities." [source, Boko Haram Attacks Relentless in Wake of Kidnapping of Girls in Nigeria: Christians seek to defend themselves as trust in army falters , Morning Star News]
Nigeria is a perfect example of a case where intensive counter-insurgency assistance [training, intel, weapons] could be provided by the United States so that President Jonathan could first eliminate the Islamist elements under his command and then set about the job of confronting Boko Haram in an effective manner.
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