Nigerian vigilantes kill scores of militants

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/14/nigeria-vigilantes-kill-detain-militants

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Villagers in northern Nigeria have killed and detained scores of Islamist militants who were suspected of planning an attack, the residents and a security official said.

Vigilante groups have been forming to resist Boko Haram, which is holding more than 270 schoolgirls captive. In Kalabalge, in Borno state, residents said they were taking matters into their own hands because the Nigerian military was not doing enough to stem militant attacks.

On Tuesday morning after learning about an impending attack by militants, locals ambushed two truckloads of gunmen, detaining at least 10 and killing scores, a security official said. It was not immediately clear where the detainees were being held.

Ajid Musa, a trader in Kalabalge, said the vigilante group had made it impossible for militants to successfully stage attacks there. "That is why most attacks by the Boko Haram on our village continued to fail because they cannot come in here and start shooting and killing people," he said.

This year in other parts of Borno, some extremists launched more attacks in retaliation against vigilante groups.

Borno is where more than 300 girls were abducted last month and one of three Nigerian states where President Goodluck Jonathan has imposed a state of emergency, giving the military special powers to fight the extremist group, whose stronghold is in north-east Nigeria.

This week Jonathan sought to extend the state of emergency for six more months in the states of Yobe, Adamawa and Borno. That move is being opposed by some leaders in northern Nigeria who say the emergency measure has brought no success.

Yobe's governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, said his government "takes very strong exception" to attempts to extend the state of emergency – a period that he described as "marked more by failure than by success." The measure was imposed on 14 May 2013 and extended in December.

Boko Haram has killed more than 1,500 people this year. Although the security forces have forced the militants out of urban centres, they have struggled for months to dislodge them from hideouts in mountain caves and the Sambisa forest.