At least 19 people have been killed within 48 hours (Thursday and Friday) in Borno State by suspected members of the Boko Haram sect whom may to have resumed killings weeks after the Maiduguri Giwa barracks attack, eyewitnesses and security operatives confirmed.
It’s on good authority that the Boko Haram gunmen had on Thursday evening invaded Dikwa village (130km away from Maidugui) and attacked a college where they killed eight teachers and fled with some women.
A fleeing resident of Dikwa who feared to be named in the media said, “We could not sleep at night as all we were hearing was gunshots and we became afraid and had to sneak in the dark for Maiduguri. We were not sure of who and who they were attacking but most of the shooting was coming from the school area, It was later some of our relatives who did not run far away from the village called and informed us that they have attacked a boarding school and had killed eight teachers there; some of the women in the college were also missing”.
Earlier on the same Thursday another set of gunmen believed to be Boko Haram had in broad day attacked Kala Balge town about 100km away from Dikwa and killed three villagers.
A top security source in Maiduguri, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the Dikwa and Kalabalge attacks, but declined comments of details of damages.
Similarly, another attack was yesterday (Friday) carried out along the Biu-Maiduguri highway by suspected Boko Haram members who waylaid vehicles near a village called Dalwa in Konduga local government area and slaughtered eight passengers.
Travellers who saw the scene of the killing could not control their emotions as they wept profusely while relaying the incident to newsmen in Maiduguri.
“It was a very sorry sight; there was blood everywhere; human bodies were butchered like that of animals” said a female traveller in tears.
The Senator representing Borno Central Senatorial District, Ahmed Zannah also confirmed to journalists on phone about the attack, but differed that it was three teachers and two security men on duty that were killed.
“There was a siege on one of the schools in Dikwa town just after midnight on Thursday”, said Senator Zannah. “I got to know from my people in the area that the hoodlums attacked a school, killed three teachers and two security men on duty; they also razed the school library and escaped into the night through the bushes”.
