Dozens of
gunmen stormed Awonori, a farming and herding village near the fishing town of
Damasak, and carted away food supplies and livestock, they said.
Boko Haram
extremists on Monday raided a village in restive northeast Nigeria’s Borno
state near the border with Niger, killing seven people, community leaders told
AFP.
“They killed
seven people, looted grains and took away all the livestocks in the village
before fleeing into the bush,” Muhammadu Modu Wan-Wan, head of the Damasak
fishermen’s union, told AFP.
“The gunmen
who came in vans and on motorcycles around 7:00 am (0600 GMT) besieged the
village and opened fire on residents as they were having breakfast before
moving to their farms,” he said.
Wan-Wan said
the attack forced the villagers to flee but they returned after the assailants
had left.
Abubakar
Gamandi, the head of Borno’s fishermen’s union, confirmed the attack.
“I received
report from my members in the Damasak area that Boko Haram gunmen attacked
Awonori village this morning where they killed seven people and took away food
and livestocks,” he said.
Last month,
residents of Damasak and surrounding villages fled their homes and crossed the
border into the Niger town of Diffa, fearing Boko Haram attacks.
But Wan-Wan
said many residents have since returned to their farms.
“People have
no food to feed their families which is why they take the risk of going back to
their villages to work on their farms now that the rainy season has started,”
he said.
Boko Haram,
which is seeking to carve out a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria,
has killed some 15,000 people since 2009.
A regional
8,700-strong force aimed at ending the insurgency is due to deploy within days.
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