17:16 08/06/2015
Maiduguri - The command centre for Nigeria's military operation
against militant Islamist group Boko Haram has been moved to Maiduguri,
the largest city in the country's northeast, an armed forces spokesman
said on Monday.
Boko Haram has killed thousands and displaced
around 1.5 million people during a six-year insurgency in which it has
tried to establish an Islamic emirate in the country that is Africa's
top oil exporter and most populous nation.
In
the last few days, more than 80 people have been killed in a spate of
bombings in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state where the insurgency
began.
"From now on, the fight against terrorism and insurgency
would be monitored, coordinated and controlled from this centre," said
army spokesman Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman.
He said a military team, led by a two-star general, had begun work at the command base.
New
president Muhammadu Buhari used his inauguration speech on May 29 to
announce that the command centre would move from Abuja, the capital, to
the northeast. Since then he has met his counterparts in Niger and Chad
to discuss the group.
The military has drawn criticism in Nigeria
media for directing the fight against Boko Haram from the relative
security of Abuja. Directing the campaign from Maiduguri puts the
military closer to the action and boosts Buhari's image as someone tough
on the insurgents.
At the start of the year, Boko Haram
controlled territory in the northeast around the size of Belgium. But
Nigeria's army said its recent offensive, with troops from Chad,
Cameroon and Niger, pushed the group out of most of the areas it had
controlled.
The group denied the claims in a video that surfaced
on social media last week, with attacks in Maiduguri and Yola pointing
to a resurgence by the group.
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