Word: biafrans
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...defense groups in besieged Biafra, the secessionist Nigerian state that is under attack from federal forces. Largely Ibo tribesmen, they joined together to resist an invading army that was made up mainly of the rival Hausa tribe, whose members last year slaughtered thousands of Ibos in Northern Nigeria. The Biafran volunteers searched automobiles at roadblocks, practiced grenade throwing and ambushing. At a Port Harcourt automotive assembly plant, Biafran engineers rolled out their first homemade tanks-trucks plated with armor. Mechanics in the railroad repair shop at Enugu, Biafra's capital, were busy making bombs for Biafra's lone...
...simply moved through the city without bothering at first to garrison it. It was probably largely deserted anyway, since thousands of Nsukkans had fled the federal attack in trucks, taxis and mammy wagons, joined in the first retreat by large numbers of Biafra's inexperienced soldiers. The Biafran army consisted at secession of about 7,000 men, only 2,500 of them trained in the federal army-and those chiefly in supporting service roles rather than in combat. They are for the most part equipped only with rifles...