By Ed Cropley and David Lewis JOHANNESBURG/DAKAR (Reuters) - Nigeria has brought in hundreds of mercenaries from South Africa and the former Soviet Union to give its offensive against Boko Haram a shot in the arm before a March 28 election, according to regional security, defence and diplomatic sources. Rumours about the use of foreign "soldiers of fortune" against the Islamist militant group gained substance this month when pictures surfaced on Twitter showing armoured vehicles rumbling along a street in what was said to be Maiduguri, the regional capital of Nigeria's Boko Haram-hit northeast. A Reuters reporter with knowledge of Maiduguri was able to verify the location of the photo as the Bama road, leading southeast out of the city, near the University of Maiduguri. In confirming the presence of hundreds of foreign military contractors on the ground, including recently in the city of Maiduguri, security and diplomatic sources put the total much higher than the hundred or so previously reported.
↧