Boko Haram kills scores in northeast Nigeria
Takfiri Boko Haram terrorists have killed scores of people in what the Nigerian president has described as “most inhuman and barbaric” attacks.
The group has carried out a number of fierce attacks in country’s northeast since Wednesday, killing nearly 200 people.
On Friday night, militants attacked Zabarmari Village near the city of Maiduguri, also known as Yerwa, the capital and the largest city of the restive Borno State.
Zabarmari resident Haladu Musa, who fled the attack to Maiduguri, told AFP that “hordes of Boko Haram” militants poured into the village, overpowering the government forces deployed there to stop the militants from reaching Maiduguri.
As the government troops were forced to retreat and people began to flee, Boko Haram bombers started blowing themselves up among the people, killing large numbers of them, he said.
"A total of six suicide bombers detonated themselves... killing scores of people while some people were also wounded. A soldier also died," the Nigerian army said in a statement.
The army said a vehicle full of improvised explosive devices was recovered by troops, adding there was an ongoing search "for any bombs that might have been hidden or left unexploded in the area."
“Most of the casualties came from the bombings,” Musa said, without being able to give a precise casualty figure.
He said the Takfiri militants then looted the shops and torched about “half the village” before government reinforcements pushed them back.
The Zabarmari attack followed a series of other attacks across the restive Borno State since Wednesday, which have also been blamed on Boko Haram.
Up to 50 gunmen on motorbikes stormed the village of Mussa 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... 25 people were killed,” he said.
Boko Haram, which has pledged allegiance to the ISIL terrorist group, has intensified its campaign of terror since Nigerian President Mohammadu Buhari came to power on May 29.
Buhari, who is a former army general, has condemned the recent attacks as “inhuman and barbaric” and vowed to eradicate the militant group, whose acts of violence have left at least 15,000 people dead and 1.5 million others homeless.
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