According to multiple witnesses who survived the massacres, the Islamist militants allegedly feared they would be killed by the soldiers or separated from their wives when they fled the town.
Reportedly, the insurgents killed their wives to “prevent them from subsequently marrying soldiers or other so-called non-believers”. “The killing of women began 10 days before Bama was liberated,” an eyewitness said.
A source told the PRNigeria that “a large number of dead bodies were discovered in wells apparently of some of their hostages or those who resisted them”. Moreover, the bodies were were also said to have been executed on the River Bama Bridge as the terrorists fled the town.
Sharifatu Bakura, 39-year-old mother of three, said: “The terrorists said they will not allow their wives to be married to infidels.”
Another witness, Salma Mahmud, said: “The Islamists said if they kill their wives, they would remain pious until both of them meet again in heaven, where they would reunite.”
Nigeria’s military along have claimed huge victories over the insurgents in recent weeks but defenceless civilians still face serious threats.
An intelligence officer has confirmed that the cordon and search of the town was continuing, while some persons in the town are also being interrogated by troops.
After Bama was seized in September, the Boko Haram members forcibly married scores of women in town. Nigeria’s military with the help of forces from neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger recaptured the town on Monday, March 16.
The latest reported atrocities in Bama recall similar massacres at high schools and colleges across northeast Nigeria, where Boko Haram has executed scores of students learning a so-called infidel curriculum.
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