Nigerian soldiers stationed there ran away after they heard “Allahu Akbar!”

Via Guardian

The Islamist group Boko Haram has seized Chibok, the Nigerian town from which it kidnapped 276 schoolgirls earlier this year, in a show of strength that makes the teenagers’ safe release a more distant prospect than ever.

The militants attacked at about 4pm on Thursday, destroying communications masts and forcing residents to flee, according to witnesses. One described running past bodies strewn on a street.

The fall of Chibok is hugely symbolic. The town in north-east Nigeria became the centre of world attention in April when Boko Haram fighters stormed the government girls secondary school, forced students onto trucks and drove them into the bush. There was a global Twitter campaign, BringBackOurGirls, and criticism of the government’s response.

Tsambido Hosea Abana, a community leader from Chibok who has cousins and nieces among the 219 teenagers still being held, said on Friday: “Our girls are in the bush and they are killing the parents. We are talking about the lives of the parents and adults now. This thing has gone beyond anyone’s control.”

Speaking from the capital, Abuja, Abanda said he had sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews in Chibok. “I’ve only heard from one. He was on his way to Chibok and he met people running away so he turned around. A villager told me he saw corpses lying in the street; he could not count them because he was running.”

He joined criticism of the military’s handling of the crisis. “They are not doing well. How can they just run away when they hear ‘Allahu Akbar’? They are handing over weapons to these boys.”