At least 30 dead in triple Islamist attack in Borno

At least 30 people were killed in three attacks by
Islamists in northeastern Nigeria, local officials
and inhabitants said Wednesday, days ahead of a
meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari
and Barack Obama.
The three assaults were carried out
simultaneously Tuesday in Borno state, the
epicentre of Boko Haram’s insurgency, and are
part of a surge in Islamist violence since Buhari
came to power on May 29.
Boko Haram has killed more than 660 people in a
month and a half.
In the deadliest attack on Tuesday afternoon,
more than 20 people were killed outside the town
of Ngamdu, local legislator Mohammed Sando
told AFP.
“Boko Haram gunmen… yesterday set up a
barricade on the Damaturu-Maiduguri highway
just outside Ngamdu, and attacked motorists.
They killed over 20,” Sando said.
Boko Haram
“They then moved to Ngamdu and began to set
houses on fire. Last week they burnt almost half
the village in a similar raid,” he added.
Haruna Kabil, a bus driver, said a large number of
people from Ngamdu fled their homes after the
attacks.
“Some houses in Ngamdu were smouldering when
I passed this morning. I learned from some
passengers I took from Ngamdu that Boko Haram
invaded the village in the evening and began
burning homes after attacking motorists on the
highway. They said that many people were killed
on the highway, by the attackers,” Kabil told AFP.
Near Baga, which is located northeast of
Ngamdu, Boko Haram attacked residents who had
decided to return home from state capital
Maiduguri, where they had been living since
January after fleeing one of the worst Boko
Haram massacres in the group’s six-year
insurgency.
“Yesterday, they chartered a lorry to (take) them
to Baga. On reaching Garin-Giwa, which is just
four kilometres (2.5 miles) from Baga, they were
ambushed by Boko Haram gunmen who opened
fire on the vehicle, forcing dozens of men inside
to flee into the bush,” said Abubakar Gamandi,
head of the fishermen’s union in Borno state.
“The gunmen however apprehended eight of the
passengers and shot them in the head,” he
added.
In Damasak, Boko Haram assailants set fire to
the town and “opened fire on everyone they saw,”
said local resident Buba Ari.