Again, B’Haram kills 20 in Borno

Twenty persons were reportedly killed on Sunday afternoon in an attack by suspected Boko Haram insurgents on Kamuyya Village in Biu Local Government Area of Borno State. It will be recalled that insurgents had killed over 100 persons in the last one week in rounds of attacks on isolated villages in the troubled state, leaving properties worth several millions of naira either destroyed or carted away. The Sunday attack, according to residents of the area, was hatched by dozens of the members of the outlawed sect who invaded Kamuyya Village with assault rifles and explosives. The attack was on for over two hours and 20 persons were killed by the insurgents who fled back into the forest. Residents, who spoke to journalists in Maiduguri on the phone, said some insurgents had visited the town about two months ago and asked the village head to mobilise his subjects to contribute N250,000 for them in order to execute “God’s work.” The villagers were only able to raise N70,000. The insurgents left with the contributed money but with a message that they would be coming back for the balance. They threatened to come back for the balance at a stipulated time or they would kill the villagers. One of the villagers, Bukar Umar said the villagers took the threat with a pinch of salt. They thought it was “madness gone too far.” He said, “Actually when they issued the threat, we all took it lightly as we were all relaxed and nobody bothered to make any extra effort to put in the amount they requested. May be that was what ignited this bloody attack because we were unable to meet their demand.” Umar said they were taken unawares as over 20 insurgents stormed the Kamuyya Weekly Market when traders were conducting their businesses and opened fire into the crowd before setting shops and vehicles on fire. He said the hoodlums after raiding the area, proceeded to the major market and begun sporadic and indiscriminate shootings into the crowd, killing 20 persons on the spot and burnt most of the shops in the market. Umar expressed dismay that innocent people were killed without intervention from the security forces though the onslaught lasted for over two hours. He said, “It was a pity that there was no single security personnel to confront the invaders who had a field day wreaking havoc on us. The invaders snatched several vehicles and loaded them with bags of assorted foodstuffs, before fleeing the area.”