Heavily armed fighters of the Boko Haram sect have attacked 32 communities in the Jere Local Government Area of Borno State, killing about 60 persons, including women and children, in the past one week, The Point has learnt.
Our correspondent gathered that the Boko Haram fighters’ attacks on the villages, which began since Saturday last Week, had also resulted in the displacement of thousands of residents of these communities, who have now taken refuge in a makeshift camp erected by the Borno State Government in Tungushe, a few kilometres away from Maiduguri, the state capital.
The Boko Haram insurgents, who were said to have stormed Jere Local Government Area last weekend, were said to have ransacked the communities, killing over 60 villagers, while also destroying their houses and property.
The attacks on the Borno communities came on the heels of claims by the Nigerian government that its troops had technically defeated Boko Haram since December last year.
According to residents, although the Federal Government and the military maintain that Boko Haram is now a spent force, following sustained counterinsurgency campaign in the past two years, incessant attacks, particularly in remote rural communities of Borno, puncture these claims of outright victory.
In a nationwide broadcast last month, President Muhammadu Buhari said that Boko Haram remained a threat.
There has been a rise in attacks by the sect’s fighters this year. Last month, suicide bombers, deployed by the sect, struck in a market in Maiduguri, killing 27 persons.
Also, last Monday, no fewer than 15 people were killed, when two female suicide bombers attacked an aid distribution point in Mashalari village in the Konduga area, about 40kilometres from Maiduguri. Forty-three other persons were also reportedly injured in the attack.
There was yet another attack by the sect last Wednesday on farmers returning to the Internally Displaced Persons camp in Rann, Kalabalge Local Government Area of Borno, killing unspecified number of persons.
Relations of some of the IDPs still in Maiduguri, said that they received the sad news of the attack on their kinsmen, who attempted to return to Rann.
According to them, many more people must have been killed in the attack, as only a few people returned to the camp in Rann with serious injuries.
A resident, Modu Gaji, told our correspondent that although the military had repelled the Boko Haram attackers and evacuated the corpses, they had failed to release them to their family members.
“The attack was in between Tilam Village and the Camp in Rann. We do not know how many people were killed as there is still confusion; and the military that went to evacuate the corpses did not say anything yet. We have not seen one of our family members by name Ya’kalli, who left with two of our cousins, who are currently receiving treatment at the camp hospital,” Gaji said.
But the Chief Imam of Rann, Ba’liman Goni Guja, confirmed on Thursday that the military released the corpses of nine IDPs killed in the Wednesday attack on a farm at Daima Village, located between Rann and Tilam.
Guja, who spoke with our correspondent on the phone, said some of the victims of the attack had fled to the neighbouring Cameroon, while a few of them returned to the camp at Rann and were now receiving treatment.
“We were told earlier that they were returning from the farm when it happened, but those who survived the attack and are in clinic now, said they were actually attacked on their farms. Many people have yet to be accounted for, but the soldiers have released nine corpses, which we buried this morning.” the chief imam said.
Security sources disclosed to our correspondent that the fighters of the Boko Haram terrorist group, who attacked the 32 communities and settlements in Jere, were armed with AK47 rifles and Improvised Explosive Devices.
The Chairman, Borno SEMA, Ahmed Satomi, in an interview with our correspondent, expressed regret on the renewed attacks and sacking of the communities by the Boko Haram sect.
Satomi explained that SEMA, with the support of Governor Kashim Shettima, security agencies and other humanitarian organisations and partners, was on top of the situation as it had already begun to address the immediate needs of the displaced people in the state.
“The attack was in between Tilam Village and the Camp in Rann. We do not know how many people were killed as there is still confusion; and the military that went to evacuate the corpses did not say anything yet. We have not seen one of our family members by name Ya’kalli, who left with two of our cousins, who are currently receiving treatment at the camp hospital,” Gaji said.
But the Chief Imam of Rann, Ba’liman Goni Guja, confirmed on Thursday that the military released the corpses of nine IDPs killed in the Wednesday attack on a farm at Daima Village, located between Rann and Tilam.
Guja, who spoke with our correspondent on the phone, said some of the victims of the attack had fled to the neighbouring Cameroon, while a few of them returned to the camp at Rann and were now receiving treatment.
“We were told earlier that they were returning from the farm when it happened, but those who survived the attack and are in clinic now, said they were actually attacked on their farms. Many people have yet to be accounted for, but the soldiers have released nine corpses, which we buried this morning.” the chief imam said.
Security sources disclosed to our correspondent that the fighters of the Boko Haram terrorist group, who attacked the 32 communities and settlements in Jere, were armed with AK47 rifles and Improvised Explosive Devices.
The Chairman, Borno SEMA, Ahmed Satomi, in an interview with our correspondent, expressed regret on the renewed attacks and sacking of the communities by the Boko Haram sect.
Satomi explained that SEMA, with the support of Governor Kashim Shettima, security agencies and other humanitarian organisations and partners, was on top of the situation as it had already begun to address the immediate needs of the displaced people in the state.
