MAIDUGURI, Nigeria – Boko Haram militants are taking over villages in northeastern Nigeria, killing and terrorizing civilians and political leaders, witnesses say, as the Islamic fighters make a comeback from a military offensive aimed at crushing them.
Nigeria’s military has insisted that the big influx of troops and a year-old state of emergency in three states which gives them the power to detain suspects, take over buildings and lock down any area has the extremists on the run.
But while Boko Haram militants have in large part been pushed out of cities in the northeast, they have been seizing villages in the semi-arid region where they once held sway, boldly staking their claim by hoisting their black flags with white Arabic lettering, and making large swaths of Nigeria no-go regions for the military.
The leader of the world’s Anglicans, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, arrived in Nigeria’s capital Wednesday to meet and pray with President Goodluck Jonathan.
