This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/29/dozens-feared-killed-by-suspected-boko-haram-fighters-in-nigeria

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Dozens feared killed by suspected Boko Haram fighters in Nigeria Dozens killed at funeral by Boko Haram fighters in Nigeria
(about 2 hours later)
Suspected Boko Haram extremists have killed more than 60 people in an attack on villagers leaving a funeral in north-eastern Nigeria, according to a local official, in the deadliest extremist attack against civilians in the region this year. More than 60 mourners leaving a funeral in north-east Nigeria have been killed by the militant group Boko Haram, according to Nigerian officials and other sources in the area.
Muhammad Bulama, the council chairman of the Nganzai local government area, told reporters that 11 other people were wounded during the attack on Saturday. Ten years after the group’s founder, Mohammed Yusuf, was murdered in police custody after a severe crackdown on his followers, Boko Haram’s factions are continuing to wage a bloody insurgency against the Nigerian security forces and civilians, defying government attempts to destroy the group.
He called it a reprisal after villagers and civilian self-defence forces fought off a Boko Haram ambush in the area two weeks ago, killing 11 extremists. In the latest attack, a group of men were walking back to their village after the funeral prayers for a relative who had just died when armed men roared up on motorcycles and opened fire, the head of the Borno Hunters Association, Bunu Bukar, said. The village is to the north of Maiduguri, Borno’s state capital, in the area of Nganzai.
Nigerians last week marked the 10-year anniversary of the Boko Haram insurgency, which has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. The extremists are known for mass abductions of schoolgirls and putting young women and men into suicide vests for attacks on markets, mosques and other high-traffic areas. Bukar said the militants “were moving on three motorbikes when they met and opened fire on a group of men who were returning to Badu Kuluwa from nearby Goni Abachari village, where they had attended funeral prayers for a deceased relative”.
The extremists, who seek to impose a strict Islamic state in the region, have defied the claims of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration over the years that the insurgency has been crushed. The violence has spilled into neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon. “Our men recovered 23 dead bodies from the scene of the attack,” he added.
Nigeria’s military did not immediately comment on Saturday’s attack. The account provided by the chairman of the local council, Muhammad Bulama, differed slightly. He said the attackers struck at 11.40am in the graveyard, rather than on their way home, killing more than 60 people and injuring 11. These were later taken to hospital in Maiduguri.
Bunu Bukar, the secretary of the Borno Hunters Association, a self-defence group, said the extremists turned up on Saturday on motorbikes and opened fire on villagers returning from offering funeral prayers for a relative. He said his colleagues had recovered nearly two dozen bodies. Both agreed that the attack had its roots in an incident several weeks before. Bulama said it was a “reprisal mission” for an attack Boko Haram had unsuccessfully tried to wage on the village of Badu.
With the help of local vigilantes, “the villagers resisted the attack, killed 11 insurgents and recovered 10 AK-47 rifles in the encounter”, he said.
Bukar said the village that Boko Haram fighters were about to take reprisals on was called Aduwawu. Rather than being their initial target, the Badu mourners were killed to stop them warning people in Aduwawu, he added.
“The Boko Harams killed these innocent people out of fear that they will alert the targeted villagers of Aduwawu of their coming, knowing what had earlier transpired,” he said.
Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, re-elected this year, has repeatedly vowed to “decimate” Boko Haram. However, attacks have increased in recent months and millions of displaced people continue to suffer, dependent on aid that is rarely sufficient.
Less than two weeks ago, several humanitarian workers were abducted when armed men attacked their convoy near Damasak, close to the border with Niger.
One, an employee of Action Against Hunger, a major international NGO, pleaded for her release in a video shared with the prominent Nigerian journalist Ahmed Salkida.
“We are Nigerians; we are also working for Nigeria. I beg that the Nigerian government should please do something to see that we are released,” said the woman, who said her name was Grace.
She went on to name previous kidnap victims, and mentioned Leah Sharibu, the only girl not released after the Dapchi kidnapping early last year, a Christian who refused to renounce her faith. Nigerian authorities have said they were negotiating for her release, but Grace said Sharibu had been killed.
“This has occurred before in the organisation Red Cross, where some ladies were caught – Hauwa [Mohammed Liman] and Saifura [Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa],” she said, sitting on the ground with other, male abductees against a backdrop of UNHCR-branded tarpaulins.
“They also asked to be released but because Nigeria did not do anything about it they were killed. I’m begging on behalf of all of us here that please Nigeria should not allow such [a thing] to happen to us. It also happened again with Leah [Sharibu] and Alice [Loksha] because Nigeria could not do anything about them, they were not released, they were killed.”
It is not clear, however, that the faction that abducted Sharibu is the same one that carried out these latest abductions, and several Nigeria-watchers said that Sharibu’s death was far from certain.
NigeriaNigeria
Boko HaramBoko Haram
AfricaAfrica
newsnews
Share on FacebookShare on Facebook
Share on TwitterShare on Twitter
Share via EmailShare via Email
Share on LinkedInShare on LinkedIn
Share on PinterestShare on Pinterest
Share on WhatsAppShare on WhatsApp
Share on MessengerShare on Messenger
Reuse this contentReuse this content