Boko Haram guns down 9 villagers in NE Nigeria

Boko Haram Islamists shot dead at least nine people and set homes on fire in a raid on two villages in conflict-hit northeastern Nigeria. PHOTO | file 

In Summary

Residents said the Islamists stayed until dawn, sheltering from heavy rain before moving to nearby Dunbulwa village

Kano. Boko Haram Islamists shot dead at least nine people and set homes on fire in a raid on two villages in conflict-hit northeastern Nigeria, fleeing residents told AFP on Thursday.

Villagers described how dozens of gunmen on motorbikes stormed Tadagara and Dunbulwa villages, 170 kilometres from Yobe state capital Damaturu, from Wednesday night through to the following morning.

All nine victims were gunned down with assault rifles as the jihadis attacked Tadagara around 10:30 pm, looting thatch-roofed mud homes and shops before setting them ablaze, according to witnesses.

“Boko Haram gunmen came on motorcycles and opened fire on the village after we had retired for the night and killed nine residents,” Tadagara villager Shuaibu Nuhu told AFP.

“We fled into the bush from where we saw fire erupting from our homes as the gunmen set them alight after looting them.”

Residents said the Islamists stayed until dawn, sheltering from heavy rain before moving to nearby Dunbulwa village.

The inhabitants there had been warned of the danger by escaped Tadagara residents however and had fled by the time the gunmen arrived. “We luckily left the village as soon as we heard Boko Haram gunmen were on the attack in Tadagara which was why they found the village empty,” said Dunbulwa resident Sani Mai-Masara. “They carted away food and jerry cans of fuel. They then set fire to our homes.” The attacks forced hundreds of villagers to flee to the town of Potiskum, 70 kilometres away, according to residents there. Boko Haram’s bloody insurgency in Nigeria has left more than 15,000 people dead since 2009 and has increasingly spread across the country’s borders, with Chad and Cameroon suffering deadly suicide bombings in recent months. The extremist group, whose name roughly translates as “Western education is forbidden”, has carried on its campaign of attacks on security forces, suicide bombings and bloody raids on villages across Nigeria’s north and eastern borders despite a major regional military campaign against them.(AFP)