Boko Haram leaders are being attacked by snakes and bees

Even nature is against Boko Haram, the extremist group that in April kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria. The local newspaper Vanguard reports that recently-captured Boko Haram fighters describe “mysterious snakes and bees” that chased them out of their forest hideouts.

One of the arrested insurgents, Kolo Mustapha, says the bees and snakes have killed several Boko Haram leaders and sent everyone else on the run. But the details are a little hard to swallow: Mustapha claims that the critters, which disappear after biting, are actually “the aggrieved people who had suffered from our deadly mission, including the ghosts of some of those we killed.” (He also said “I personally have never killed anyone,” soooo…)

The other captured Boko Haram member, Umar Abor, says the sect believes “the Chibok people are using juju to pursue us because of their children said to have been taken by our leaders.” Oh, so they’re juju bees.

So is Boko Haram being hounded by real snakes and bees, such as one might find in a Nigerian forest? Or are the leaders plagued by a guilty conscience? Or, alternately, are these just your standard-issue ghost bees? No matter what the reason, the Civilian JTF (Nigeria’s anti-Boko Haram militia) says that more and more fighters have been fleeing the group’s hideouts, and some are offering assistance to security forces. I guess if it takes mystical snakes to make that happen, then that’s what it takes.