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14-01-2025
ABUJA: Over 40 Shia farmers have been killed in an attack by armed groups in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno State, according to government officials.
Fighters from the Boko Haram group and ISIL (ISIS) affiliate in West Africa Province (ISWAP) were suspected of carrying out the attack, Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum and State Information Commissioner Usman Tar said yesterday.
Tar said the groups rounded up dozens of farmers in Dumba on the shores of Lake Chad and shot them dead late on Sunday.
“Initial report indicates about 40 Shia farmers have been killed while the whereabouts of many who escaped the attack are being traced for reunion with their families,” Tar said.
The state government has ordered soldiers battling rebel fighters in the region “to track and obliterate the insurgent elements” operating around Dumba and their enclaves in the wider Lake Chad area, Tar added.
The farmers “strayed off” the safe limit set by the armed forces for farming and fishing in the area that is a sanctuary for fighters from ISWAP and Boko Haram and is dotted with landmines and “prone to nocturnal attacks”, the commissioner said.
Governor Zulum warned civilians to stay within designated safe zones that have been cleared by the army of both fighters and munitions.
He also called for an investigation into the attack by the armed forces.
Lake Chad, which straddles Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad, serves as a hideout for Boko Haram and ISWAP, which use it as a base to launch attacks.
Boko Haram took up arms in 2009 to fight Western education and impose their version of Islamic law.
Some 35,000 civilians have been killed and more than two million have been displaced in the northeastern region, according to the United Nations.
In September last year, Dozens of people have been killed after suspected fighters from the Boko Haram hardline group attacked a village in northeastern Nigeria, setting fire to shops and homes.
The attack took place on Sunday afternoon.
“Around 150 suspected Boko Haram terrorists armed with rifles and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) attacked Mafa ward on more than 50 motorcycles,” said Dungus Abdulkarim, a police spokesman in Yobe State where the village is located.
“They killed many people and burned many shops and houses. We are yet to ascertain the actual number of those killed in the attack.”
Abdulkarim said the attack was apparent retaliation for the killing of two suspected Boko Haram fighters by local vigilantes.
Yobe is one of three states on the front line of a 15-year insurgency by Boko Haram and other hardline groups which has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 2 million. The armed groups have strengthened their position by working with gangs of criminals known as “bandits”, who raid villages, kill and abduct residents, and burn homes after looting them.
Officials said efforts were continuing to confirm the number of people killed in Mafa.
“It has been established that at least 81 people were killed in the attack,” said Bulama Jalaluddeen.
“Fifteen bodies had already been buried by their relations by the time soldiers reached Mafa for the evacuation of the corpses. In addition to these, some unspecified number of dead victims from nearby villages who were caught up in the attack were taken and buried by their kinsmen before the arrival of the soldiers. Many people are still missing and their whereabouts unknown.” (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
