massacres in northeastern Nigeria on Friday,
locals said, killing nearly 200 people in 48 hours
of violence President Muhammadu Buhari blasted
as “inhuman and barbaric.”
The militants have staged multiple attacks
across restive Borno state since Wednesday,
gunning down worshippers at evening Ramadan
prayers, shooting women in their homes and
dragging men from their beds in the dead of
night.
A young female suicide bomber also killed 12
worshippers when she blew herself up in a
mosque in Borno. While there was no immediate
claim of responsibility, Boko Haram has used
both men and young women and girls as human
bombs in the past.
And as night fell, Nigerian troops battled “hordes
of Boko Haram gunmen” who seemed set on
attacking the state capital Maiduguri, the
birthplace of the extremist Islamist movement.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned
the latest wave of killings … describing them as
most inhuman and barbaric,” the presidency said
in a statement.
The bloodshed is the worst since Buhari came to
power in May, vowing to root out the insurgency,
which has claimed more than 15,000 lives.
Up to 50 armed men on motorbikes stormed the
village of Mussa in the latest atrocity on Friday,
shooting villagers and burning their homes,
survivor Bitrus Dangana told AFP.
“They killed six people in the village and they
chased the inhabitants into the bush, firing at
them. … Twenty-five people were killed in the
bush,” he said.
Another survivor, Adamu Bulus, confirmed 31
people had been murdered.
It was the fourth time that Boko Haram had
attacked the village in the past year, local youth
worker Sunday Wabba told AFP, describing how
they “killed everyone on sight.”
News of the massacres first emerged on
Thursday, when survivors told of raids on three
villages in Borno state the previous evening that
left at least 145 people dead and many houses
burned to the ground.
On Friday, fresh details of the killings emerged
from a resident of Kukawa, near Lake Chad, the
worst-affected village.
Baana Kole told AFP that he and others had
managed to escape into the bush where they
spent the night, before returning to bury the
dead, only to find that the militants had laid
mines everywhere.
“Some residents who hid in trees saw them
planting the mines and alerted us when we
returned to the village and started burying our
dead,” he said.
“So many dead bodies are still in Kukawa lying
unattended. We had to abandon them because
we could not carry them with us.”
Less than 24 hours later, a girl blew herself up in
a mosque in Malari village, more than 150
kilometers away from Wednesday’s attacks.
“The bomber was a girl aged around 15 who was
seen around the mosque when worshippers were
preparing for the afternoon prayers,” Danlami
Ajaokuta, a vigilante assisting the military
against Boko Haram, told AFP.
“People asked her to leave because she had no
business there and they were not comfortable
with her in view of the spate of suicide attacks
by female Boko Haram members.
“She made to leave but while the people were
inside the mosque for the prayers she ran from a
distance into the mosque and blew herself up,”
he added — an account corroborated by resident
Gajimi Mala.
Early Friday morning, as people were sleeping,
Boko Haram militants dragged men out of
houses in Miringa village and shot them for
escaping forced conscription.
They “picked 13 men from selected homes and
took them to the Eid prayer ground outside the
village, where they opened fire on them,” resident
Baballe Mohammed said, adding 11 died and two
managed to escape.
He and another resident said the victims had
been targeted because they had fled their home
village after Boko Haram tried to force them to
join their ranks.
Then on Friday evening, local vigilantes said
Nigerian troops were battling Boko Haram
fighters in Zabarmari village, only 10 kilometers
(6 miles) from Maiduguri, trying to prevent an
apparent rebel attempt to enter the city.
With heavy gunfire and more than 10 loud
explosions reported, local resident Zanna Shehuri
told AFP, “Boko Haram are now in Zabarmari
trying to come into Maiduguri but are facing stiff
resistance from soldiers.”
The armed group has intensified its campaign of
violence since Buhari came to power on May 29,
launching raids, explosions and suicide attacks
that have claimed over 450 lives.
The spike in violence has sparked concern that
earlier victories claimed by the armies of Nigeria,
Niger, Chad and Cameroon in the region are
being eroded.
The four countries — all of which border Lake
Chad, a focal point of Boko Haram unrest —
launched offensives against the militants early
this year as it became apparent that the armed
group was making big gains in Nigeria.
They managed to push the militants out of
captured towns and villages, but the recent
attacks highlight that Boko Haram is not
defeated.
A new regional fighting force comprising 8,700
troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and
Benin is due to deploy at the end of the month.
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