Dozens of emaciated-looking Boko Haram members begging for food have
surrendered in northeast Nigeria, the military and a civilian self-defense
fighter said Wednesday.
Seventy-six people
including children and women gave themselves up to soldiers last Saturday in
Gwoza, about 60 miles southeast of Maiduguri, according to a senior officer.
All are being detained at military headquarters in Maiduguri,
the birthplace of Boko Haram and currently the command centre of the war
against the Islamic extremists, according to the officer. He insisted on
anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to journalists.
The detainees said many
more fighters want to surrender, a self-defense civilian fighter who helped
escort them to Maiduguri told The Associated Press.
Food shortages could
indicate that Nigeria's military is succeeding in choking supply routes of the
Islamic extremists who have taken their fight across Nigeria's borders. Some
20,000 people have died in the 6-year-old uprising. Boko Haram was declared the deadliest of all terror
groups in 2014, surpassing the Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to which it declared allegiance last year.