Borno village buries 45 after Boko Haram attacks

n what a military source described as a reprisal, gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram insurgents attacked the village of Azaya Kura in the Mafa Local Government Area of Borno State during the week, killing at least 45 people.

The military source told Reuters on Friday that the militants stormed the village on Wednesday to avenge the death of four of their members who had wandered into the market, but were identified and killed by soldiers in a gun fight.

“The Boko Haram militants mobilised and came on a reprisal,” the source said in Maiduguri.

The Chairman of Mafa LGA, Shettima Lawan, said the attack on Azaya Kura village occurred on a busy market day.

“They slaughtered 45 people; they’ve been buried,” he said.

Bordering with Cameroon, the local government has been under the control of the Boko Haram sect, which is seeking to establish an Islamic caliphate in the North-Eastern part of the country.

A resident of the village who has fled to Maiduguri because of the violence, Bakura Moh’d, said a family member told him the insurgents came around noon and rounded up people to kill them.

“They tied peoples’ hands behind their backs and slit their throats like animals,” he said.