Boko Haram Said To Surround Capital of Major Northern Nigerian City A Month After Declaring Own 'Caliphate' — The Militants Have Been Seizing Towns With Little Resistance

Residents expect an attack on the Borno State capital of Maiduguri, in what could be the group's largest and most symbolic seizure yet.

The Nigerian government has made no headway in the rescue of hundreds of school girls kidnapped by Boko Haram. Since the mass kidnapping of school girls back in April, Boko Haram has kidnapped hundreds more children and adults, most of them males. Since the declaration of its "Caliphate" in August, the Islamist militants have taken control of towns. (Screen capture from YouTube video)

By Samuel Oakford
A month after declaring an Islamic State-like caliphate in Northeastern Nigeria, Boko Haram militants have reportedly surrounded the Borno State capital of Maiduguri, where residents expect an attack on what could be the group's largest and most symbolic seizure yet.

Founded in 2002, Boko Haram, which roughly translates to "Western education is forbidden" in the local Hausa language, has killed thousands of people in northeastern Nigeria in the last five years. As its control in the region has expanded, Boko Haram has been met with an ineffective but equally brutal response from the Nigerian Army, which Amnesty International has accused of committing war crimes.

Fighting has spread across the Eastern border into Cameroon, where the government estimated that 100 Boko Haram fighters were killed last weekend in clashes with its troops. On Friday, the Nigerian military reportedly killed 200 militants and a senior Boko Haram commander during in a battle in Konduga, a town about 20 miles outside of Maiduguri.

Maiduguri has long been a power base for Boko Haram, where experts say the group maintains a key network of sympathizers among its residents. The Kanuri ethnic group concentrated in Borno State has long felt neglected by Nigeria's central government in Abuja and its commercial capital of Lagos.

"The insurgents have surrounded Maiduguri and are nursing the ambition of attacking the city from all directions," the Borno Elders Forum said in a statement released this week.

"The insurgents have rendered impassable almost all the roads leading to Maiduguri," they said.

Ryan Cummings, chief security analyst for Sub-Saharan Africa at Red24 and member of the Nigeria Security Network, told VICE News that the group's fighters, who are adept at brutal smash and grab attacks, would probably have trouble maintaining control of Maiduguri, home to more than 1 million people.

"If Boko Haram was indeed to capture Maiduguri, it would be highly unlikely that the sect would have the operational capacity to actually hold the town, particularly against any sustained counteroffensives by the Nigerian military," Cummings said.

But, he added, "It does seem to be the case that, from an operational perspective, Boko Haram has strengthened over the past few weeks."

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