CNN, Nigeria :
Journeying by day through Borno state is a tense, nervy experience.
But for some, nightfall in this part of northeastern Nigeria has become truly frightening with the threat from Boko Haram seemingly everywhere.
This state has been a springboard for a wave of indiscriminate bombings, kidnappings and assassinations perpetrated by this exceptionally violent militant Islamist group whose name translates to “Western education is sin” in the local Hausa language.
Yet it wasn’t until recently, when hundreds of schoolgirls were snatched at gunpoint from a boarding school as they slept in their beds, that this brutal insurgency really grabbed the world’s attention. The terrifying and audacious nature of this raid in the dead of night under a hail of gunfire and explosions sent shock waves far beyond Nigeria’s borders.
When a CNN crew made the perilous journey to Chibok almost a month after the girls’ abduction, they discovered the attack had left an indelible mark on this community. Locals described fearing the onset of nightfall when they felt most vulnerable, most abandoned by the outside world.
Before their village was stormed, some residents claimed friends and relatives in surrounding towns had warned them the feared extremists were on their way in a convoy of cargo trucks, pickups and motorcycles. They said they reported this to local authorities that night. The police, they said, called for reinforcements but none came. Everyone, including the police, fled into the bush, leaving the girls asleep in their dorms.
The gunmen overpowered the school’s guards and herded the girls onto the waiting trucks. The trucks then disappeared into the dense forest bordering Cameroon, a stronghold for the terror group. Authorities do not know where the girls are being held.
