Scores of people have been killed and many others forced to flee to
the mountains following a renewed series of Boko Haram raids in
northeast Nigeria, a lawmaker and a relief agency official said Tuesday.
The
reported attacks by the Islamists targeted the Michika area in
northeastern Adamawa state, where bodies reportedly littered the streets
in several villages.
The bloodshed in northeast Nigeria has
reached unprecedented levels in recent weeks, raising questions about
security for general elections set for February 14.
The head of a
European Union election monitoring mission, Santiago Fisas, said staff
deployed to observe polling in Africa’s most populous country would not
even attempt to travel to the northeast.
Separately, police in the
northeastern town of Potiskum said they had arrested a bomb-maker
linked to several recent Boko Haram suicide attacks — a welcome
development for Nigeria’s security services which have struggled to
protect civilians.
– ‘Beyond insurgency’ –
Adamu Kamale, who
represents the Michika district in the Adamawa state government, also
in the northeast, said Boko Haram gunmen had been going “door-to-door,
killing people, including the old” for the past two weeks.
It was not immediately clear what sparked the latest alleged atrocities.
The insurgents, who are blamed for more than 13,000 deaths since 2009, have been in control of Michika for roughly five months.
Women
and children had been abducted and countless homes destroyed, according
to Kamale, who said roughly 70 percent of the population had fled their
homes.
Many had escaped to Adamawa’s capital Yola, where hundreds
of thousands have previously sought refuge, while others have been
hiding in the mountain range that borders Cameroon.
“Dead bodies litter villages… The attackers slaughter people like animals,” he said.
In
other areas under Boko Haram’s control, however, the attacks had abated
and Kamale struggled to understand that latest unrest.
“To us, it has gone beyond insurgency. Something very strange is taking place in Michika,” he said.
Mohammed
Kanar, northeast coordinator for the National Emergency Management
Agency, confirmed the raids in Michika, without discussing details of
the violence.
“People are trapped in the mountains but they are inaccessible,” he told AFP. “The security situation is a challenge.”
Source: PM News
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