Boko Haram Militants Appoint Emir For Captured Gwoza As Women Bury Their Dead

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="page-header-lead lead flush-bottom" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 12px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: none;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Another female source said it became necessary for them to bury the dead because “the men in our town and surrounding towns have either been slaughtered or have fled for fear of being killed.”</span></div> <div> <br /></div> <br /> <div class="first" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: none;"> <span class="ds-1col file file-image file-image-jpeg view-mode-embedded centered clearfix block-story-object block-story-object-resource block-story-object-resource-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; margin: 0px auto 24px; max-width: 500px; width: 500px;"><span class="block-story-object-asset" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="" class="media-element file-embedded" src="http://saharareporters.com/sites/default/files/styles/normal_medium/public/Palace_of_Emir_Gwoza.jpg?itok=uRUO3fJg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: auto; margin: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 500px;" typeof="foaf:Image" /></span></span><span class="block-story-object-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; padding: 12px;"><span class="block-story-object-content-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block;"><span class="block-story-object-content-header-description" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; text-shadow: none;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Palace of The Emir of Gwoza reportedly taken over by Boko Haram militants who have appointed their "emir"to govern the township</span></span></span><span class="block-story-object-content-footer" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin-top: 6px;"><span class="block-story-object-content-footer-item block-story-object-content-footer-item-attribution" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; float: left; font-style: italic; text-shadow: none;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Sahara Reporters Media</span></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box;">With most of their menfolk killed or on the run, women in the town of Gwoza, Borno State, have taken on the grim task of burying dozens of residents massacred in last week’s assault by insurgents belonging to the Islamist group, Boko Haram.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: none;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In telephone interviews, two sources in the town said the women of Gwoza were burying men, women and children who lost their lives when a vicious band of Boko Haram fighters descended on the town last week in an orgy of death and destruction.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: none;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“We are very fatigued,” one of the women told our correspondent. She added, “We are almost resigned to fate in our tedious and unusual work of burying scores of dead bodies that still litter our town.”</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: none;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box;">Another female source said it became necessary for them to bury the dead because “the men in our town and surrounding towns have either been slaughtered or have fled for fear of being killed.”</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: none;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box;">The source said the town was now peopled by trapped women, little children and the elderly who were spared by the Boko Haram fighters.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: none;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box;">The insurgents have seized the Emir’s residence as well as a government lodge in Gwoza, and have appointed a replacement for the town’s fleeing Emir. Our sources added that Boko Haram’s black flags have been hoisted at different locations in the town as a mark of the sect’s authority.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: none;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box;">A source also stated that the sect had introduced strict Islamic laws in the seized emirate.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: none;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box;">A soldier involved in a counter-insurgency operation corroborated the accounts of the situation in Gwoza. He said some women and youths who arrived in Madagali, Adamawa State, after fleeing Gwoza and traveling through the rough terrain of hills painted terrifying portraits for military officials who interviewed them.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: none;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box;">A senior military officer told SaharaReporters that the Nigerian Army was drawing up a strategic plan to execute “a multi-dimensional offensive in a bid to dislodge Boko Haram from Gwoza and surrounding villages.”</span></div> </div>

Boko Haram Militants Appoint Emir For Captured Gwoza As Women Bury Their Dead

Another female source said it became necessary for them to bury the dead because “the men in our town and surrounding towns have either be...

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