Boko Haram again: 44 killed in Borno

IN yet another reprisal attack by insurgents, some gunmen have slaughtered no fewer than 44 people at Dumba village on the outskirts of Baga town, Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State.
Sources told Saturday Tribune Friday that about 50 gunmen stormed the village, which is a few kilometers away from Baga, on Tuesday and slaughtered 44 people. Many people were also said to have been injured in the attack.
The gunmen were also said to have set some houses in the village on fire. News of the killings got to the state capital only on Friday.
Baga is about 157 kilometres away from Maiduguri, the state capital, and it has been an epicenter of terrorist activities, including bombings.
Saturday Tribune gathered that rescue workers have mobilised to the area from Maiduguri with the aim of providing medical services to the surviving victims.
The assailants were said to have removed the two eyes of some of the victims, and decapitated some others.
A rescue worker told newsmen in Maiduguri that the village came under attack late Tuesday when people were fast asleep.
“As I’m speaking to you now, officials of the Red Cross and Medicine Sans Frontiers are attending to the injured victims,” a rescue worker with a Federal Government agency who did not want to be named said.
He said the village has been deserted and the people are now taking refuge at the Baga Central Primary School.
A source with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) who confirmed the incident said the agency has mobilised to the area to assess the situation with a view to rendering humanitarian assistance to the injured and those who were psychologically traumatised in the attack.
The spokesman of the Joint Task Force (JTF) could not be reached for comments on the attack on Dumba village.
Since the dislodgement of Boko Haram insurgents from Maiduguri, attacks in local government areas and villages have been on the increase.
Meanwhile, two suspected members of the sect who disguised as women in order to escape the wrath of the youth volunteers (a.k.a Civilian JTF) were on Friday in Jimtilo Ward of Maiduguri arrested and later killed. Their corpses were later dumped in Hausari Ward.
This is the second time some suspected terrorists who disguised as women were arrested. The last one took place in Gwange Ward of the same Maiduguri, where about six members of the dreaded sect in female clothing, armed with AK-47 rifles, were arrested and killed by the JTF.
Saturday Tribune gathered that the two suspects were on their way to Maiduguri to execute a terror attack, but luck ran out on them as they were intercepted by the vigilante youths at Jimtilo, about 8 kilometres away.
Owing to lack of telecommunication services in Borno for the past three months, the military spokesman, Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, and the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Gideon Jubrin, could not be reached for confirmation as at press time.
Meanwhile, less than two months after it announced a controversial peace deal with the Boko Haram, the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North on Friday said it had reached yet another peace pact with Shura, the highest decision-making council of the Islamic insurgent group.
Addressing State House Correspondents in Abuja, the chairman of the committee and Minister of Special Duties, Tanimu Turaki, showed a video clip where five members of the Shura addressing Mmuslim faithful in Arabic and Hausa languages announced their decision to enter into genuine negotiation with government based on Islamic tenets.
The prepared text read in the video was signed by Muhammed Lawan Ibn Suliaman, Abdul-Auza’i, Al-Darnawo and Al-Maliki.
Reading from it, Muhammed Ibn Sulaiman claimed that they were surprised at the visit of the committee to them in prison and their proposals for the way forward.
Quoting profusely from the holy Quran, the council expressed optimism that dialogue was possible with government, as it was encouraged in the holy book.
“Indeed, dialogue between the Jihadists and the government is possible. This is because dialogue is well-rooted in Islam as Allah says in the chapter of Anfal in the Quran: ‘If they turn to peaceful coexistence, you also should follow suit’,” Shura said.
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