Suspected members of the outlawed Boko Haram sect invaded three villages, Ngoshe, Kaigamari and Anchaka in Gwoza, Konduga and Bama Local Government Areas in Borno State at the weekend, killing about 98 people and setting ablaze several houses and shops.
They were also alleged to have destroyed telecommunications masts and other property worth millions of naira.
Ngoshe is located east of hilly Gwoza town between the Camerounian border with Nigeria, while Kaigamari is a remote settlement in Konduga, a town which has suffered several attacks by Boko Haram terrorists.
Gwoza is about 140 kilometres south, while Konduga is a 40-kilometre drive from Maiduguri, the state capital.
It was gathered from a source that “the gunmen, armed with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), petrol bombs, AK 47 rifles and rocket propelled launchers (RPGs), invaded Ngoshe at about 10 pm on Saturday and opened fire on the already sleeping and unarmed residents, killing 30 of them and inflicting injuries on several others, before setting ablaze some residential houses”.
Also in Kaigamari, no fewer than eight people were said to have been killed yesterday when another set of gunmen attacked the village and set ablaze some houses and shops.
An eyewitness, who was lucky to escape the attack in Ngoshe, Mallam Usman Jidda, told journalists in Maiduguri that the gunmen who were sighted some few days back in between the mountainous areas of Ngoshe and Limankara villages, had a field day without being confronted by security operatives in the area.
“I thank God for sparing my life and members of my family as we were able to escape the deadly attack, we are now settling with one of my relatives in Gwoza council area. I can confirm to you that more than 30 people were killed by the insurgents in Ngoshe, apart from the destruction of property worth millions of naira,” Jidda stated.
The attack in Kaigamari village of Konduga near the state capital, according to sources, had forced the surviving residents to flee the area to Maiduguri yesterday for safety.
At Anchaka, the Chairman of Bama Local Government Area, Alhaji Baba Shehu, confirmed the killings of about 60 persons to journalists in Maiduguri.
Shehu also lamented that several other persons were injured in the attacks.
He disclosed that the attackers invaded the communities in the early morning of Saturday on motorbikes before embarking on mass destruction of property.
He said: “The attackers invaded the communities early in the morning on motorbikes while residents were still sleeping.
“They set ablaze houses and shot residents who tried to escaped from the fire.
“About 60 persons were confirmed dead after the incident, with several others injured.
“Almost all the houses in the communities were destroyed by the hoodlums who threw IEDs at the buildings.”
Shehu said the attackers also destroyed the newly renovated motorised boreholes provided by the council for provision of potable water to the communities.
He added that residents of the communities had fled to Maiduguri for fear of another attacks by the invaders.
“It is really a terrible situation, we had wanted to rush relief materials to the area to provide temporary succour to the victims.
“But we were prevailed upon by security agents to shelve our plans for security reasons,” Shehu said.
He appealed to the federal and the state government to assist the local government with resources towards rehabilitating the victims.
