60 Killed In Fresh Attack On Borno Village

In spite of the current successes recorded by the military in the anti-terror war, Boko Haram insurgents sneaked into a Borno State village, killing 60 residents.

The attack, according to a security source, occurred on Tuesday morning as terrorists attacked villagers at Njaba, a remote community in Damboa Local Government, south of Borno.

Some of the survivors, who fled to headquarters of Damboa local government, said the insurgents stormed the community at about 5.30am on Tuesday, opened fire on people who were preparing for their early morning Muslim prayers.

A local official told reporters in Maiduguri that some of the women who fled Njaba to Biu, some 96 kilometres away recounted how the insurgents killed many of the villagers. He said they also torched houses and forced women to escape into the bush.

The official, who doesn’t want to be named, said some of the women claimed they returned to Njaba in the afternoon, hours after the attack and found over 60 bodies on the streets while the village was in ruins.

“Most of the victims are teenagers because many youths in the community have fled following previous threats,” he told Daily Sun. He said the insurgents shot the teenagers and some elderly ones. The attack was not immediately known in Maiduguri, the state capital because of the remoteness of the village.

He said the insurgents rode to the village on motorcycles and entered the community as people prepared for the early morning prayers. Damboa is about 87 kilometres, south of Borno. The area was previously seized by Boko Haram, but recaptured last October, by the Nigerian military.

In another development a security source last night said Boko Haram struck in Ngamdu, a community along Maiduguri-Damaturu highway but details of the attack were sketchy at Press time.

Meanwhile, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu, told the Senate Committee on Air Force yesterday that operations in the North-East has totally destroyed Boko Haram’ stronghold by damaging its command and control in the area.

He was defending the 2015 budget defence of the Air Force.

He commended the collaborative efforts of the neighbouring countries of Chad, Cameruoun, Benin and Niger in the fight against insurgents.

He said the co-operation with Nigerian soldiers gave the nation’s security forces a lot of boost because they had blocked the terrorists from escaping to the neighbouring countries.

“On February 15, we were in Lagos to harmonize equipment with the ammunition system. It was very clear that we were commencing a major offensive which was very quick for me to release information that we are going to storm the North-East, we are going to storm the Sambisa Forest,” he said.