Members of Nigerian Islamist radical group Boko Haram attempted to elude security officials in a northeastern Nigerian town by dressing up as women but were eventually caught.
According to an article in the National Post, men thought to be members of the militant group Boko Haram donned female clothing and attempted to slip through a security checkpoint manned by Nigerian soldiers on Tuesday. However, the National Post reported that the men were not successful in disguising their beards and that their masculine form gave them away to security officials.
They were promptly arrested and paraded through the town.
The militants were trying to get out of the northeastern town of Baga, which the group had held since January after defeating Nigerian military forces in the area.
Boko Haram gained control of Baga after scattering Nigerian soldiers in a surprise attack on their headquarters on January 7. The group then went on to massacre civilians in the town and neighbouring villages, killing hundreds and forcing large swathes of the population to evacuate the area to Chad and Cameroon. Following the attack, Nigerian lawmaker Maina Maaji Lawan told BBC that Boko Haram controlled 70 per cent of Baga.
Before the attack, Baga had a population of roughly 10,000 people.
Lt Gen Kenneth Minima said in an article in the Times of India that Nigerian military forces had reclaimed Baga from the extremists. He also said that they are poised to recover more towns from the control of the extremist group.
"From here we move to retake Gwoza, Marte and Madagali,'' the Times of India quoted him as saying.
The operations are part of a concerted effort from Nigeria and its Lake Chad Basin allies to restore peace and order, and enable Nigeria to proceed with its presidential elections, which have been postponed for six weeks to allow the new multinational force to assemble and begin operations against the militant group in northeastern Nigeria.
The multinational task force was to be composed of roughly 8,000 soldiers assembled from Lake Chad Basin countries Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroon, and Benin.
