No fewer than 100 persons are believed to have been killed in Borno State following Tuesday’s attack by the terrorist group Boko Haram on four border communities with Cameroun.
The attack, it was learnt, was a retaliatory one on the villages of Attagara, Ngoshe, Agapalawa and Aganjara in Gwoza Local Government Area of the troubled state.
A resident of Maiduguri, who lost his brother in the attack, told journalists on the condition of anonymity that the armed men dressed in military camouflage drove into the communities in all-terrain vehicles and motorbikes.
They subsequently gathered the unsuspecting villagers and opened fire on them.
Gwoza is located in the southeastern part of Borno State and about 135 kilometres away from Maiduguri, the capital of the state presently ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgency.
A security source said: “The community actually thought the gunmen were military personnel. It didn’t occur to them that they were Boko Haram members. It was too late by the time they found out as the insurgents indiscriminately opened fire on them.
“As I speak to you over 83 corpses are lying in the villages and yet to be buried.”
An indigene of the area, Ibrahim, but is resident in Maiduguri, also said he had been in touch with three of his relations who were fortunate enough to escape during the onslaught on the communities.
He said his fleeing relations were lucky to have escaped the attack but had to return to the village again for fear that they could be traced in the bush by the terrorists.
According to Ibrahim, his relatives who were unaware of the level of killings were shell-shocked when they found out the magnitude of the destruction of human lives and property.
Though attempts to get the confirmation of security operatives were unsuccessful at the time of filing this report, a security source disclosed that the communities lost 83 persons.
A local lawmaker, Peter Biye, and other residents also told AFP: “There were deadly attacks on these villages by Boko Haram insurgents who killed a large number of people and destroyed homes.”
Biye, who represents the area in the House of Representatives, said: “We are still trying to compile a toll of the dead as people on the ground are still counting the number of casualties.”
Many residents fled across the border into neighbouring Cameroun, as soldiers were deployed to fight the Islamists, who took over at least seven villages, Biye added.
“Boko Haram has hoisted their flags in at least seven villages in the area which they now claim to be under their control,” said the lawmaker.
Military jets bombarded Boko Haram positions in the affected area to try to flush out the insurgents, he added.
Abba Goni, who lives in the mainly Muslim village of Ngoshe, said the gunmen were armed with Kalashnikov assault weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. The entire village of about 300 homes was razed with several mosques, he added.
“We lost many people, including (civilian) vigilantes who tried to fight off the Boko Haram attackers. At least 100 people were killed,” said Goni, who fled to nearby Gamboru Ngala.
In the predominantly Christian village of Attagara, homes and a church were also set on fire while dozens of residents were killed, according to Bulus Yashi, who also escaped to Gamboru Ngala.
“It was a reprisal over the casualties Boko Haram suffered in the village in two previous attacks,” he said.
On Sunday, around a dozen gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on a church in the village killing nine worshippers. But residents mobilised and pursued the attackers, killing four and arresting four others, he added.
