Boko Haram seizes army base in Nigeria town of Baga

The militant group Boko Haram has seized a town
and key multinational military base in north-
eastern Nigeria, officials and eyewitnesses say.
A senator in Borno state said troops had
abandoned the base in the town of Baga after it
was attacked on Saturday.
Residents of Baga, who fled by boat to
neighbouring Chad, said many people had been
killed and the town set ablaze.
Baga, scene of a Nigerian army massacre in 2013,
was the last town in the Borno North area under
government control.
It hosted the base of the Multi-National Joint Task
Force (MNJTF), made up of troops from Nigeria,
Chad and Niger.
Set up in 1998 to fight trans-border crime in the
Lake Chad region, the force more recently took on
Boko Haram.
Boko Haram attacks towns and villages on an
almost daily basis, abducting people including
young boys and girls, BBC Africa analyst Mary
Harper reports.
The military, which includes Western advisers and
surveillance, seems incapable of dealing with the
problem, she adds.
'Helter skelter'
Residents who fled to Chad said they had woken to
heavy gunfire as militants stormed Baga early on
Saturday, attacking from all directions.
They said they had decided to flee when they saw
the multi-national troops running away.
Maina Maaji Lawan, senator for Borno North, told
BBC World Service civilians had run "helter skelter"
- "some into the forest, some into the desert".
Communications with the town were cut off and
exact information about casualty numbers could
not be confirmed, he said.
"We are very dispirited," the senator added.
Confirming that the military had abandoned the
base, he said people's frustration knew "no
bounds" over the apparent fact that the military
had not fought back.
"There is definitely something wrong that makes
our military abandon their posts each time there is
an attack from Boko Haram," the senator said.