Fleeing B’Haram send wives to ‘heaven’ ahead

In the face of imminent death, fleeing members of the Boko Haram terrorist sect slaughtered dozens of women whom they forcefully married, before a battle with troops in Bama, Borno State, Thursday.

Witnesses said the Islamist militants feared they would be killed by advancing soldiers or separated from their wives when they fled the town.

They killed the women to prevent them from subsequently marrying soldiers or those they called non-believers, they added.

“The terrorists said they will not allow their wives to be married to infidels,” said Sharifatu Bakura, 39, a mother of three.

According to Bakura’s account, which was supported by others, Boko Haram fighters received word of a military assault on Bama, formerly an Islamist stronghold.

The Islamists said “if they kill their wives, they would remain pious until both of them meet again in heaven, where they would re-unite”, said Salma Mahmud, another witness.

A vigilante who fought alongside the military in the battle to retake Bama, Abba Kassim, said he saw “dozens of women corpses” in the town.

While other witnesses reportedly a similarly high casualty figure the numbers were impossible to verify.

Fanna Aisami, 52, also in Maiduguri after escaping Bama this week, said the executions followed a warning from Boko Haram’s top commander in the town.

“He informed them of the situation and the consequence of the takeover of the town by the advancing troops.

“He warned them that when soldiers killed them they would take their wives back to the society where they would be forced to marry and live with infidels,” the mother of seven said, speaking by phone to AFP in Kano.

The commander “said it would be better for them to kill their wives and send them to heaven,” Aisami added.

A number of women were shot dead in front of the commander’s house, she further said.

Yagana Mairambe, 58, reported similar details but said that “some Boko Haram men refused” and fled with their wives towards neighbouring Yobe state.

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