Security sources have confirmed to SaharaReporters that Boko Haram militants killed no fewer than 91 people in separate but apparently coordinated attacks yesterday on different communities in Borno State.
The sources said terrorists dressed in military uniforms but belonging to the dreaded Islamist sect used military-style vehicles to descend on Attagara, Agapalawa, Ngoshe and Aganjara in the Gwoza local government area of Borno State. “Wherever they arrived, they ordered the villagers they could see to line up, and then they opened fire on them,” one security source said.
Another source stated that many of the residents actually thought the gunmen were military personnel. “It didn’t occur to them that the men in uniform were Boko Haram,” he said, adding that close to 100 corpses were now lying in the ravaged villages, yet to be buried.
In a telephone conversation, a man claimed that he had been in touch with two of his relatives who managed to escape from the carnage in Attagara. “They said they were lucky to have escaped the attack. They have been hiding in the bush, but they are afraid Boko Haram people could trace them there. So they are planning to sneak back into Attagara,” he told our correspondent.
For the people of Attagara, yesterday’s attack was a double tragedy. Last Sunday, armed men suspected to be Boko Haram terrorists had opened fire on worshipers in a church in the village. Nine worshipers lost their lives in that attack.
Our sources disclosed that Boko Haram terrorists in an armored personnel carrier (APC) stormed the village of Gulumba near Bama as well as the Ngoshe community in Gwoza local government, killing anybody in sight.
Among the casualties in yesterday’s attacks were three village heads and one ward head.
In Ngoshe, the Islamist terrorists reportedly killed at least nine people and razed many homes. Our source said many more people were still missing, adding that some had fled to neighboring Cameroon.
