{"id":36805,"date":"2015-03-17T16:13:38","date_gmt":"2015-03-17T15:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=36805"},"modified":"2015-03-17T16:13:38","modified_gmt":"2015-03-17T15:13:38","slug":"nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigerian Forces Recapture Bama, Boko Haram Stronghold"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Nigerian government forces recaptured the northeastern city of Bama from<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Islamist Boko Haram insurgents, the army said on Monday, a significant<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">victory for the government just two weeks before a national election.<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Boko Haram had held Bama, situated in Borno state where their six-year-old<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">insurgency to establish a medieval-style Islamic caliphate has been<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">centred, since September last year. Their campaign expanded over the past<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">few months with cross-border incursions into Niger, Chad and Cameroon.<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">But counter-strikes launched by the armed forces of Chad and Niger over<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">the frontier into Nigerian territory, particularly around Lake Chad, as<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">well as the engagement of hundreds of mercenaries may have begun to turn<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">the tides of the conflict.<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The arrival of new equipment has also helped boost morale among<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">hard-pressed Nigerian soldiers.<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Africa&#8217;s biggest economy and top energy producer has been plagued by the<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">insurgency launched in 2009. Boko Haram managed to take control of<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">territory the size of Belgium by the beginning of 2015.<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The inability of the army to dislodge the militants, who have killed<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">thousands of people and kidnapped hundreds, has been an embarassement for<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">President Goodluck Jonathan.<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8220;Nigerian troops have this afternoon routed terrorists from Bama in Borno<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">state. Mopping up operation is ongoing,&#8221; the Nigerian Defence Headquarters<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">tweeted.<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Bama is about 60 km (40 miles) southeast of the state capital Maiduguri.<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The army has been fighting for Bama since last week and began making<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">headway over the weekend, security sources said.<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The militants were progressively pushed out of neighbouring Adamawa and<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Yobe states since the start of the year, and cornered into an ever<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">shrinking area of Borno, the heartland of the insurgency, where they<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">appear to be suffering heavy losses.<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">But the Nigerian government has warned that the splintered militants would<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">regroup and increase attacks on &#8220;soft&#8221; targets, something that has already<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">occurred with a string of deadly bombings across the north and middle of<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Nigeria.<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The elections were postponed in February by six weeks, with the military<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">citing Boko Haram as warranting the delay.<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Jonathan of the People&#8217;s Democratic Party will face former military ruler<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Muhammadu Buhari, seen as tough on security, in the March 28 election,<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">which is likely to be the closest ballot since the end of military rule in<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">1999.<\/span><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><br style=\"color: #000000;\" \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Reuters<\/span><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nigerian government forces recaptured the northeastern city of Bama fromIslamist Boko Haram insurgents, the army said on Monday, a significantvictory for the government just two weeks before a national election.Boko&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nigerian Forces Recapture Bama, Boko Haram Stronghold - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nigerian Forces Recapture Bama, Boko Haram Stronghold - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nigerian government forces recaptured the northeastern city of Bama fromIslamist Boko Haram insurgents, the army said on Monday, a significantvictory for the government just two weeks before a national election.Boko&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-17T15:13:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/bama-borno.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"headline\":\"Nigerian Forces Recapture Bama, Boko Haram Stronghold\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-17T15:13:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/\"},\"wordCount\":380,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/bama-borno.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Exclusive\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/\",\"name\":\"Nigerian Forces Recapture Bama, Boko Haram Stronghold - Pointblank News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/bama-borno.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-17T15:13:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/bama-borno.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/bama-borno.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":400},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nigerian Forces Recapture Bama, Boko Haram Stronghold\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\",\"name\":\"Pointblank News\",\"description\":\"Just the news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\",\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Our Reporter\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nigerian Forces Recapture Bama, Boko Haram Stronghold - Pointblank News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nigerian Forces Recapture Bama, Boko Haram Stronghold - Pointblank News","og_description":"Nigerian government forces recaptured the northeastern city of Bama fromIslamist Boko Haram insurgents, the army said on Monday, a significantvictory for the government just two weeks before a national election.Boko&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/","og_site_name":"Pointblank News","article_published_time":"2015-03-17T15:13:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/bama-borno.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Our Reporter","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Our Reporter","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/"},"author":{"name":"Our Reporter","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"headline":"Nigerian Forces Recapture Bama, Boko Haram Stronghold","datePublished":"2015-03-17T15:13:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/"},"wordCount":380,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/bama-borno.jpg","articleSection":["Exclusive"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/","name":"Nigerian Forces Recapture Bama, Boko Haram Stronghold - Pointblank News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/bama-borno.jpg","datePublished":"2015-03-17T15:13:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/bama-borno.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/bama-borno.jpg","width":750,"height":400},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/nigerian-forces-recapture-bama-boko-haram-stronghold\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nigerian Forces Recapture Bama, Boko Haram Stronghold"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/","name":"Pointblank News","description":"Just the news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c","name":"Our Reporter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Our Reporter"},"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}