Suspected Boko Haram gunmen on horseback
shot dead nearly 80 people in attacks on three villages in the
North-East at the weekend, a vigilante and residents told AFP on Monday.
The attacks were the latest bloodbath in
the six-year-old insurgency by the extremist group aimed at carving out
an Islamic state in the volatile region.
Babakura Kolo, a vigilante fighting Boko
Haram, said 68 people were killed in the attack on Baanu village in
Borno state late on Friday while residents said another 11 people were
shot dead in two other villages on Saturday and Sunday.
“Reports reached us of an attack on
Baanu village late Friday where Boko Haram gunmen riding on horses
opened fire on the village. Sixty-eight people were killed in the
attack,” Kolo told AFP.
He said the gunmen stormed Baanu around 8.30 pm, shooting sporadically.
Baanu resident Aisami Ari who fled the
attack to the state capital Maiduguri on Saturday, also confirmed the
attack and the death toll.
“The attackers came on horses around
8.30 pm and began shooting sporadically. The whole village was thrown
into confusion and everybody fled. We returned after they had gone and
found out they had killed 68 people in the village,” he said.
“Most of us left the village on Saturday for fear of a fresh attack,” he added.
A government official, who demanded anonymity, however put the death toll in Baanu at 56.
Kolo also said four people were killed in another attack by the Islamists in Karnuwa village on Saturday.
“They shot dead four people in the village, including the chief imam of the village, his son and two neighbours,” he said.
Local resident Saleh Musa told AFP of a
third attack on Hambagda on Sunday where they killed seven villagers and
injured five others.
“The attackers arrived on horseback
around 2:00 pm while people were praying in the mosque. They went
straight to the mosque and opened fire on worshippers,” said Musa who
later fled to the nearby town of Askira Uba.
“They killed seven people, while five
others were injured. I was late for the afternoon prayers and I was at
home preparing to go to the mosque and join in the prayers when the
attack happened.”
Army spokesman in Maiduguri, Colonel
Tukur Gusau, and Borno government spokesman Isa Umar Gusau said they
could not immediately comment on the attacks.
Boko Haram has stepped up its attacks
since Nigeria’s new President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in on May 29,
vowing to crush the insurgency.
The wave of violence since the
inauguration has claimed more than 1,000 lives, dealing a blow to a
four-country offensive launched in February that had chalked up a number
of victories against the hardline Islamists.
The extremists have carried out deadly
ambushes across Nigeria’s borders and in recent weeks suicide bombers,
many of them women, have staged several attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon and
Chad.
Boko Haram, which is seeking to carve
out a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria, has killed some
15,000 people and displaced 1.5 million since 2009.
An 8,700-strong Multi-National Joint
Task Force, drawing in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin, is
expected to deploy against the insurgents soon.
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