Boko Haram kills 43 in fresh Borno attack

YUSUF BABAYARO
The Borno State Police Commissioner, Aderemi Opadokun, yesterday, confirmed fresh attacks by the Boko Haram sect on Monguno town.

The attack claimed at least 43 lives weekend, residents and a local security official said.

Boko Haram, on Friday, attacked the villages of Kalwa, Misala and Gwollam, all under Monguno Local Government Area of Borno State. They killed 43 of the villagers either by gunshots or slitting their throats.

Although the police did not give specific number of deaths to journalists while confirming the attacks, local security sources from Monguno area said 43 bodies were found in pools of their own blood on Saturday morning.

Responding to a text message asking him to confirm the incident, Opadokun said, “Information revealed that gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram terrorists invaded Kalwa and Gwollam villages in Monguno Local Government Area; many persons were reported killed and several houses burnt. But we assure the public that patrol is in progress in the said area.”

Haruna Bukar, a senior member of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria in Monguno Local Government Area, said on phone, “Many villages under Monguno Local Government Area are being attacked almost on daily basis.

“Boko Haram terrorists had on Friday night attacked Misala and Kalwa, which are two neighbouring villages. The two villages are located not more than 17km from Monguno town on the way to Marte.

“They operated for hours on that night while setting houses ablaze. At the end of the deadly operation, 43 persons were found dead either killed by gunshots or slaughtered like animals. They did not stop there, they also attacked some other villages around the area, but luckily those villages were long deserted; so they went ahead to set the hours ablaze.”

Bukar, who said he had to relocate to Maiduguri, also informed journalists that the gunmen had attacked Dankyali village on Saturday night, even though he could not ascertain immediately if there were serious casualties.

“One cannot say immediately if there is any dead or injured casualty in the Dankyali attack of Saturday; it is usually very difficult getting to communicate during attacks because of lack of communication networks,” he said.

Monguno has in the past one year become one of the most attacked Borno towns in the on-going Boko Haram insurgency.

About two weeks ago, Boko Haram terrorists had staged an attack on a village near the town and shot dead 48 persons.

Towns and villages under Monguno Local Government Area literally become easy target for attacks after the terrorists had on January 28, 2015 launched a major attack on the town and sacked one of the largest military barracks stationed there.

It was believed the terrorists had also carted away large cache of arms from the barracks.

Meanwhile, some members of the Civilian-JTF escaped death narrowly yesterday when an explosive device believed to have been hidden very close to a checkpoint exploded injuring a number of them.

A witness said the blast occurred at Njimtilo, a village few kilometres to the gate of Maiduguri, where soldiers, customs and immigration officers, police and members of the Civilian-JTF mount one of the biggest checkpoints in the city.

“The blast occurred at 12:30p.m at the Njimtilo checkpoint; no one was reported dead but some Civilian-JTF members were injured,” said a plain clothes police officer, whose name cannot be mentioned as he was not officially cleared to speak. “It was not a suicide bomb from what I observed. I guess the bomb was either buried or dropped near the place.”

As at the time of filing this report, emergency aid workers, including NEMA had arrived the spot to evacuate the injured to the hospital.