Boko Haram militants have killed at least 43
people in a five-hour assault on the town of
Gubio in Borno State, witnesses told Reuters on
Tuesday.
Thousands of people have been killed and
several millions displaced in a six-year Boko
Haram insurgency that once saw the group
control an area the size of Belgium. But the
Islamist insurgents have since lost most of their
gains to military counter-offensives.
The latest attack, which a military source said
involved a convoy of around 50 Boko Haram
members storming Gubio, lasted for around five
hours on Saturday afternoon and ended about
9.30 p.m., local resident Mallam Yusuf
Mohammed said.
Details of such attacks often take a number of
days to surface outside of the affected areas due
to poor telecommunications in the area.
Mohammed estimated that more than 400
houses had been burnt by the insurgents.
“They came, shooting, threatening to kill
everybody. They set fire on many houses, burnt
down our peoples’ vehicles and motorcycles. We
lost 43 people including two children,” Abubakar
Mondama, leader of a local vigilante group, told
journalists.
Boko Haram has been driven out of nearly all the
territory it captured by a series of offensives
waged by Nigeria’s armed forces backed by
those from the neighbouring states of Chad,
Niger and Cameroon in the past few months.
Remaining militants have retreated into the
Sambisa Forest.
Source: PunchNg
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