LAGOS
Boko Haram militants are in full control of Bama town where they go from house to house bringing out able-bodied young men and killing them, a federal lawmaker from the troubled northeastern city has said.
"Bama is under the control of Boko Haram as we speak," Senator Ahmed Zannah told Anadolu Agency.
"Anybody telling you anything to the contrary or that the military has taken it is a lie," he insisted.
Zannah said the military went towards Bama, a town nearly 60km from Maiduguri, the heavily populated provincial capital of Borno state, only Wednesday afternoon and nothing has changed.
"Therefore, whatever they were saying is not true," he insisted.
Senator Zannah talked about heavy casualties resulting from clashes with Boko Haram militants as both sides engaged in gun fighting that lasted several hours.
"The casualty is too much but I cannot quantify it," he said.
"Nobody was there, nobody has the courage to stand there and start counting the dead bodies," added the federal lawmaker.
"But all over Bama town there are heavy casualties, dead bodies litter the town because there has been no burial," he said.
"I lost two of my nieces. Two of the children of my brother I lost them," lamented Zannah. "Both are 20 years old. They were under the bed of their aunty and were brought out and killed by Boko Haram."
He said the killings are still ongoing.
"All the able young men are being sighted and killed immediately. They are only sparing children, women and the aged," Zannah added.
But the Senator's account conflicted with that of the government and the army which maintain that troops - and not Boko Haram - are in control of Bama.
"There was initial report that insurgents had captured the army base and was in control of Bama," Isa Gusau, spokesman for Borno state government, told AA.
"Security sources however hinted on Wednesday that the military had reversed the trend following airstrikes that destroyed hard wares brought in by insurgents from Gwoza while also destroying hard wares at the Bama military base to deny insurgents access to military weapons," he added.
So far, the insurgents have captured a number of towns and villages across northeast including Gwoza where they claimed to have hoisted their flag and declared an Islamic caliphate.
Military called that an "empty claim."
Militants attempted to take Bama in 2013 and again in February of this year. Both attempts were thwarted by the army, however, leaving casualties on both sides.
Boko Haram has already overrun the towns of Gamboru Ngala, Dikwa and Gwoza, all in Borno; Buni Yadi and Bara in neighboring Yobe State; and Madagali in Adamawa State.
The group's elusive leader, Abubakar Shekau, recently declared all territories under Boko Haram control to be part of an "Islamic caliphate" in northern Nigeria.
The Nigerian military, for its part, has dismissed Boko Haram's claims, insisting that no part of the country had – or would be – conceded to the militant group.
Since May of last year, the three states – Borno, Yobe and Adamawa – have all remained in a state of emergency, imposed by the government with the stated aim of curbing the Boko Haram "menace."
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