#News: Boko Haram 'control police academy'

[BBC]

 Who are Boko Haram?

 

• Founded in 2002
• Initially focused on opposing Western education - Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language
• Launched military operations in 2009 to create an Islamic state
• Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria - but also attacks on police and UN headquarters in capital, Abuja
• Some three million people affected
• Declared terrorist group by US in 2013

Who are Boko Haram?

Profile: Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau

 The resident of Liman Kara, which is about 15km from Gwoza, told the BBC Hausa service that police recruits were seen running from the college after the attack began at dawn on Wednesday.

Boko Haram opposes secular Western education and has attacked many schools in the last several years  He said he was unable to confirm if there were casualties as he had joined other residents and fled the town to nearby hills.

A security official who did not want to be named told the BBC that the militants had "entered the school" but said he could not confirm they were in control of the college as it had not been possible to contact it.

A similar attack on the college was repelled by officers undergoing training there two weeks ago.

BBC Hausa's Mahmud Lalo says the Liman Kara academy is one of only two riot police training colleges in Nigeria and the militants are likely to find weapons there.

According to the Nigerian newspaper Sahara Reporters, several hundred militants were involved in the raid on the college, which there were reportedly more than 290 police trainees at the time.

In April, Boko Haram caused global outrage by abducting more than 200 girls from a boarding school in the remote town of Chibok in Borno state.

The US, UK, France, China and Israel have all offered assistance in helping track them down, but their whereabouts remains a mystery and the militants' attacks have increased.


Source: BBC

[BBC]