northeastern Nigeria, local officials and inhabitants said Wednesday.
The three
assaults were carried out simultaneously Tuesday. In the deadliest, over
20 were killed outside Ngamdu, a local legislator, Mohammed Sando, told
AFP.
"Boko Haram gunmen...
yesterday set up a barricade on the Damaturu-Maidiguri highway just
outside Ngamdu, and attacked motorists. They killed over 20," Sando
said.
"They then moved to
Ngamdu and began to set houses on fire. Last week they burnt almost half
the vilage in a similar raid," he added.
Haruna Kabil, a bus driver, said a large number of people from Ngamdu fled their homes after the attacks.
"Some
houses in Ngamdu were smouldering when I passed this morning. I learned
from some passengers I took from Ngamdu that Boko Haram invaded the
village in the evening and began burning homes after attacking motorists
on the highway. They said that many people were killed on the highway,
by the attackers," Kabil told AFP.
"Yesterday, they chartered a lorry to (take) them to Baga. On reaching Garin-Giwa, which is just four kilometres (2.5 miles) from Baga, they were ambushed by Boko Haram gunmen who opened fire on the vehicle, forcing dozens of men inside to flee into the bush," said Abubakar Gamandi, head of the fishermen's union in Borno state.
"The gunmen however apprehended eight of the passengers and shot them in the head," he added.
In Damasak, Boko Haram assailants set fire to the town and "opened fire on everyone they saw," said local resident Buba Ari.
"We are now going through the burnt area looking for bodies. So far we have covered five."
The attacks underlined the threat still posed by the Islamists, despite the authorities' pledges to crush Boko Haram's insurgency and with a new regional force set to deploy at the end of the month.
Source: AFP
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