Boko Haram on rampage…Hundreds killed, villages overrun

Locals said the gunmen, in large numbers and wearing military fatigue, drove in two armour-personnel carriers and five pick-up trucks into Attagara in Gwoza Local Government Area.They gathered villagers as if to protect them and then opened fire. They also destroyed homes, churches and business places.Some sources put the death toll at up to 400, […]

Locals said the gunmen, in large numbers and wearing military fatigue, drove in two armour-personnel carriers and five pick-up trucks into Attagara in Gwoza Local Government Area.
They gathered villagers as if to protect them and then opened fire. They also destroyed homes, churches and business places.
Some sources put the death toll at up to 400, though officials were yet to make a statement on the latest violence by last night.
Other villages that came under attack include Amuda, Ngoshe, Aghapalwa and Danjara.
When they drove into Attagara, the gunmen posed as soldiers and told residents they were there to protect them, before opening fire and killing them, Federal lawmaker Peter Gumtha Biye told Daily Trust yesterday.
“They called all the people and gathered them in one place, because they were in military fatigue. They told them they went to assist them. But soon after everybody gathered, they opened fire on them,” said Biye, who represents Damboa/Gwoza/Chibok Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.
Biye said the Attagara attack was the worst in the history of insurgency in Borno State.
“It is the worst attack so far. They killed many people that only God knows how many,” he said.
“As it is now, no one can tell the exact number of people killed; it is only when security men are able to go there that we will know, but the people are many. Corpses are lying everywhere in the town. They burnt churches and houses.”
The attack on Attagara was said to be a revenge mission as local hunters and vigilantes on Sunday repelled insurgents and killed four of them. Three others were also arrested and handed them over to security operatives in Pulka, a relatively bigger village where troops have a base.
A community leader explained how the insurgents deceived to gather in one place before they were killed: “After the Church incident in Attagara on Sunday, news filtered that the Boko Haram insurgents were perfecting plans to attack us and therefore we found it difficult to sleep.
“On Tuesday, we went to Pulka and explained our predicaments to the soldiers at the military base. We also solicited for protection and the officers there told us not to worry.
“They told us to go back to our villages with an assurance that soldiers would be deployed to protect us against any impending attacks. We believed them and went back.
“Around 10am, we saw about military pickup vehicles with dozens of people, whom we thought were soldiers because all of them were well dressed in camouflage uniforms. They also had fragmented jackets and helmets and other apparels.
“We therefore felt relaxed when we saw them. Soon after they arrived, they directed all our people to converge in one place.”
A resident, who spoke to Daily Trust in Abuja, said relatives who survived the attacks told him that hundreds were killed.
“Our people who ran to hide in the hilltops sent us texts that more than 500 people were killed. Some even said no soul was spared during the attack. They said all they saw from the hilltops are corpses everywhere,” he said, asking not to be named.
“They came around 10am and started killing people up to 4pm.”
The man said an unconfirmed number of people were also killed in two villages of Amuda and Ngoshe, while churches were razed by the insurgents.
He said the attackers rode motorbikes to pursue and kill those who tried to escape to the bush.
A community leader in Attagara also spoke to Daily Trust, saying “hundreds of dead bodies are there lying in Attagara, Aghapalwa, Danjara and Ngoshe because there is nobody that will bury them.
“The Lawani (village head) of Danjara was also killed; five of my brothers have been killed and hundreds of our youths are gone. We are facing the greatest humanitarian crisis any rational human being can think of.”
He said during the attacks, only women were spared, as even male children were also killed.
“The insurgents have gone to the extent of snatching male children from the backs of their mothers and killing them,” he said.
The community leader said the attacks continued yesterday with the insurgents attacking Ngoshe again where they killed many people, and took away sheep, goats and hundreds of bags of foodstuff. They also razed down the whole village, he added.
Michael Isa from Ngoshe said: “I cannot tell you how I managed to escape but our people have been exterminated, only women are spared and they are also in distress.”
If the death toll in Attagara is confirmed to be up to 500, then it will be the deadliest village attack yet, ahead of the Gamboru violence in which nearly 400 people were killed last month.
Many villages, hamlets and settlements have been sacked in Gwoza, Bama and Konduga local government areas in the last few weeks.
Gwoza shares border with Cameroon Republic and is surrounded by the Mandara Mountains and the Sambisa Forest that serves as training grounds and enclaves of Boko Haram insurgents.