Scores Killed in Fresh Boko Haram Attack on Borno Community
Nigerian Nation
Maiduguri— Boko Haram gunmen returned to Damboa, Borno State, before dawn yesterday, killing scores of residents and setting homes ablaze in a fresh assault on the town.
They threw explosives into residential homes and shot dead civilians who tried to surrender.
Residents said yesterday they were ‘piling up corpses.’
Half the town ,about 85 kilometers from the state capital, Maiduguri,was up in flames, according to spokesman for the Nigerian Vigilante Group otherwise called Civilian JTF, Abbas Gava.
The town’s main market, the home of the local government chairman and the area’s top cleric were similarly set ablaze.
Well-armed terrorists extremists attacked as residents as they were preparing for the Fajr dawn prayers and the civilian defence fighters could only resist with clubs and homemade shotguns, he said.
“They killed many people. Women and children fled into the bush,” said an official with the Damboa Local Government, who requested anonymity.
“Those who could not flee surrendered and were killed by the insurgents,” he added.
”Most houses in the town have been burnt. Only a few still remain,” said resident Ahmed Buba.
“The destruction is massive… This is the worst attack by Boko Haram on Damboa.”
“We were defenceless because all the security personnel, including soldiers and policemen, have withdrawn,” Buba told AFP.
He could not say how many people were killed.
”We have to go through the rubble to see how many people died.”
Those who escaped from the overnight raid fled to the state capital Maiduguri and sought shelter in the palace of the area’s top cleric, Umar Garbai El-Kanemi, also known as the Shehu of Borno.
The survivors “lodged a complaint with the Shehu because there are no security forces in Damboa,” the official said.
Damboa has been besieged for two weeks, since the July 4 attack by Boko Haram terrorists on the new tank battalion base set up on outskirts of the town.
The Defence Headquarters said that attack was repelled with 50 insurgents killed.
Six soldiers including a colonel also died in the July 4 attack.
But locals said the soldiers were driven from the base and that terrorists twice have ambushed military convoys trying to reach it in the past week.
The militants had cut off access to the town from the south on Monday when they blew up a bridge further south. Damboa is on the main road south from Maiduguri.
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| Damage from Borno State fighting during July 2014. |
Maiduguri— Boko Haram gunmen returned to Damboa, Borno State, before dawn yesterday, killing scores of residents and setting homes ablaze in a fresh assault on the town.
They threw explosives into residential homes and shot dead civilians who tried to surrender.
Residents said yesterday they were ‘piling up corpses.’
Half the town ,about 85 kilometers from the state capital, Maiduguri,was up in flames, according to spokesman for the Nigerian Vigilante Group otherwise called Civilian JTF, Abbas Gava.
The town’s main market, the home of the local government chairman and the area’s top cleric were similarly set ablaze.
Well-armed terrorists extremists attacked as residents as they were preparing for the Fajr dawn prayers and the civilian defence fighters could only resist with clubs and homemade shotguns, he said.
“They killed many people. Women and children fled into the bush,” said an official with the Damboa Local Government, who requested anonymity.
“Those who could not flee surrendered and were killed by the insurgents,” he added.
”Most houses in the town have been burnt. Only a few still remain,” said resident Ahmed Buba.
“The destruction is massive… This is the worst attack by Boko Haram on Damboa.”
“We were defenceless because all the security personnel, including soldiers and policemen, have withdrawn,” Buba told AFP.
He could not say how many people were killed.
”We have to go through the rubble to see how many people died.”
Those who escaped from the overnight raid fled to the state capital Maiduguri and sought shelter in the palace of the area’s top cleric, Umar Garbai El-Kanemi, also known as the Shehu of Borno.
The survivors “lodged a complaint with the Shehu because there are no security forces in Damboa,” the official said.
Damboa has been besieged for two weeks, since the July 4 attack by Boko Haram terrorists on the new tank battalion base set up on outskirts of the town.
The Defence Headquarters said that attack was repelled with 50 insurgents killed.
Six soldiers including a colonel also died in the July 4 attack.
But locals said the soldiers were driven from the base and that terrorists twice have ambushed military convoys trying to reach it in the past week.
The militants had cut off access to the town from the south on Monday when they blew up a bridge further south. Damboa is on the main road south from Maiduguri.
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