Gunmen kill 52 in Borno villages

Gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect have between last Saturday and Sunday killed at least 52 people in Mafa and Konduga local government areas of Borno State, locals and hospital sources said.Our correspondents gathered that at Ngom, a border settlement between Mafa and Konduga local government along the Gamboru-Ngala road, the […]

Gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect have between last Saturday and Sunday killed at least 52 people in Mafa and Konduga local government areas of Borno State, locals and hospital sources said.
Our correspondents gathered that at Ngom, a border settlement between Mafa and Konduga local government along the Gamboru-Ngala road, the insurgents reportedly invaded the village and slaughtered 12 people at night on Saturday.
Locals said about 40 people were also slaughtered at Mandarari and Malari communities of Konduga local government, along the Maiduguri-Bama road.
It was gathered that the attackers dressed in military and police uniforms stormed the villages in four-wheel drive trucks and motorcycles.
Witnesses said many people sustained injuries and scores of houses set ablaze by the attackers in all the affected villages.
A source at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) confirmed that 26 people who sustained various degrees of injuries are now receiving treatment at the hospital.
“They were brought here (hospital) by men of JTF in three vehicles for treatment.  Sixteen of them had fractures in their limbs while the remaining ones had knife cuts and fire burns on their skins,” the source, who craved for anonymity, said.
“Some of us escaped death by the whiskers because we fled to the bush and kept on moving,” one of those that escaped from Ngom said.
He said from what he learnt a day after the attack in Ngom, the attackers said they were on vengeance mission because locals are collaborating with security agents.
There was no confirmation of the attacks by the JTF as at press time but a top politician from Mafa confirmed the death of 12 villagers, saying he also learnt of another attack in Konduga were 40 people were shot dead.   
Meanwhile, Boko Haram leader Imam Abubakar Shekau yesterday released a new video in which he accused the federal government and the military of misleading the public on the ongoing insurgency, insisting he is still alive.
Shekau, who spoke intermittently in Hausa and Arabic languages, also claimed responsibility for various attacks in Mallam Fatori, Bama and Gamboru Ngala in the last two weeks in which security operatives were killed.
“By Allah, we have come of age; we now have the capability to face the United States, not to talk of Nigeria.”
“We are responsible for the attack in Malam Fatori, the killings of vigilantes in Baga, attacks in Bama, Gamboru Ngala and Damaturu.  It is surprising how a group you claimed you have decimated can demoralize you to the extent you abandoned your uniforms and gun and fled,” he added.
The 32 minutes video showed Shekau alone, wearing green caftan, a cap and turban on his head, hung an Ak47 rifle on his right shoulder, a paper on his left hand and a chewing stick on his left hand.
He tagged the video “Goron Sallah” (glad tidings for Eid el-Fitr). He said he and his group will fight to the finish. Shekau also told the youth vigilantes to stop wasting their time.