{{Abuja}} — {Residents and vigilante members from Bama who arrived Maiduguri from the recently liberated Bama town in Borno State yesterday said Boko Haram militants “slaughtered their wives” as they fled advancing Nigerian troops.}
The militants reportedly killed their wives, believing that if they die in the ongoing offensive by soldiers, their “spouses” would not be re-married to “infidels”.
It was gathered that while many of them who killed their wives remain in Bama and subsequently died fighting Nigerian troops, several others fled southwards to Gwoza, which their leader, Abubakar Shekau, declared the headquarters of his “caliphate”.
Witnesses told Daily Trust that the militants believe that a final fight would surely take place in Gwoza in the coming days which would determine their continued survival.
“That is why they killed most of their wives and those they called concubines because they don’t want any infidel to re-marry them or have access to them,” said Jamta Bukar, an elderly woman.
Jamta, who is about 60 years old, said she lived all her life in Bama and when the militants took over the town in September 2014, she did not go anywhere.
“I saw so many unbelievable things in Bama… I don’t think the Boko Haram ever thought that their empire would be crushed. They had everything, a chain of command, including judges, imams and administrators”.
Another woman, Altine Sainna said she saw the corpses of many women that she was familiar with.
Meanwhile, PR-Nigeria, the media consultant to Nigeria’s security agencies said yesterday that scores of corpses of people believed to have been killed by Boko Haram had been discovered in water wells in Bama.
A statement from the agency said the recapture of Bama led to the discovery of atrocities perpetrated by the terrorists while they held the town and as they fled.
It said a source revealed that a large number of dead bodies were discovered in wells, adding they appeared to be bodies of Boko Haram hostages or those who resisted them. PR-Nigeria also said military sources revealed that the terrorists embarked on a killing and maiming spree when troops advanced on Bama.
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