Boko Haram Kills Many People In Borno, Burn Houses In Fresh Deadly Attack

Suspected Boko Haram gunmen opened
fire on villagers and torched a number of
buildings in a new attack in northeast
Nigeria, witnesses said Monday.
Resident Ahmad Ali told AFP that
roughly two dozen assailants, who were
“obviously Boko Haram fighters”
stormed the village of Kwajaffa at dusk
on Sunday and ordered residents out of
their homes.
Locals thought the Islamist insurgents
“were going to preach and leave”, but in
fact they “opened fire on the crowd”, Ali
said.
Ali said the death toll likely passed two
dozen but no other eye witnesses could
be reached immediately to confirm the
figures.
“They then went on setting fire to homes,
burning half of the village before they
left,” he added.
Kwajaffa lies in the southern part of
Borno state, one the regions hit hardest
during Boko Haram’s deadly six-year
uprising.
Details of attacks often take time to
emerge, given the poor communications
infrastructure in the embattled region.
Babagana Mustapha said a relative who
fled the attack in Kwajaffa arrived at his
home in southern Borno’s commercial
hub of Biu, 35 kilometres (22 miles) from
Kwajaffa, at 11:30 pm (1030 GMT) on
Sunday.
This relative reported similar details
concerning the attack, including a
number of casualties, Mustapha told
AFP.
Nigeria’s military — backed by forces
from Chad, Niger and Cameroon — has
claimed huge victories over Boko Haram
in the northeast over the last two
months, retaking a series of towns and
villages previously under rebel control.
But experts have warned that hit-and-
run attacks by the group could increase
amid the added military pressure.
The Islamist militants killed seven people
going to a market in southern Chad on
Friday, and then set improvised
landmines on the road close to the
Nigerian border.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s
perceived mishandling of the Islamist
insurgency was seen as a main reason
for his overwhelming defeat in the
northeast in last month’s general
elections.
Nigeria’s president-elect Muhammadu
Buhari will not take charge of the fight
against Boko Haram until late May, but
he has vowed to be a more effective
commander-in-chief than Jonathan, in
part by ensuring that the military is
properly funded and equiped.
Aside from the use of force, Buhari has
pledged to use so-called “soft power” to
stem the killing, including much-needed
development programmes targeted
specifically at the impoverished region.