Maiduguri: Boko Haram militants killed
seven people on Monday in the remote
northeast of Nigeria, residents and an official
said, with reports indicating the victims were
beheaded in a revenge attack.
The overnight raid targeted the town of
Ngamdu in troubled Borno state, the area
hardest hit in the Islamists' five-year uprising.
When locals woke they discovered "seven
people had been brutally killed", said resident
Musa Abor.
The gunmen "slit their (victims) throats just
the way people slaughter goats", he added.
Abor and a Borno state official, who asked
that his name be withheld, said the bodies had
been decapitated, in the latest act of gruesome
violence blamed on the Islamists who have
killed more than 10,000 people since 2009.
In recent months, Boko Haram insurgents
have targeted reprisal attacks at locals who
have fought alongside the military as
vigilantes.
An army officer in Borno, who also requested
anonymity, said 15 Boko Haram fighters were
killed in clashes in Ngamdu two weeks ago
and the group had vowed revenge against the
community.
Those killed on Monday could not
immediately be identified as vigilantes and the
defence ministry was not available to
comment on the attack or the alleged
beheadings.
The violence came as Nigerian Muslims
marked the Eid al-Adha festival, a public
holiday in the religiously divided country.
Most Islamic holidays in recent years have
been marred by Boko Haram violence.
The militants are thought to be in control of
more than two dozen towns and villages in
the northeast, but the military has vowed to
retake all lost ground as part of a continuing
offensive launched in May of last year.
The military had imposed a travel ban across
Borno and neighbouring Yobe state to last
through the Eid holiday to guard against
insurgent attacks.
But the measure is almost impossible to
enforce in the remote region, where analysts
say the army does not have enough troops on
the ground to patrol a vast area with a
terrible road network and poor mobile phone
coverage.
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