Alleged attack by Boko Haram fighters leaves 110 civilians dead
In an incident that took place on Saturday afternoon, against farmers in north-eastern Nigeria killed at least 110 people, raising tolls initially indicating 43 and then at least 70 dead in the village of Koshobe and other rural communities in the Jere local government area Maiduguri, the capital of the conflict-hit Borno state, according to United Nations.
“Armed men on motorcycle led a brutal attack on civilian men and women who were harvesting their fields,” UN’s humanitarian coordinator Edward Kallon in Nigera said in a statement on Sunday. “Atleast 110 civilians were ruthlessly killed and many others were wounded in this attack,” Kallon further said, noting that several women are believed to have been kidnapped. He added, “The incident is the most violent direct attack against innocent civilians this year. I call for the perpetrators of the heinous and senseless act to be brought to justice.”
President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, denounced the latest massacre, “I condemn the killing of our hard-working farmers by terrorists in Borno state. The entire country is hurt by these senseless killings.”
Some locals blamed the attack on Boko Haram Fighters and its splinter faction, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP). Yet there has been no definite claim of responsibility for the attack.“You have Boko Haram ruling north-eastern Nigeria and criminal gangs ruling the rural communities of the north-western Nigeria; this has a devastating effect on Nigeria’s economy and the future of the country entirely,” said Bulama Bukarti, an analyst at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
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