LAGOS
Nearly 200 people were killed in separate attacks by Boko Haram militants across Nigeria's northern Borno state in recent days, said a federal lawmaker.
"Reports I got from my constituency indicate that up to 200 people were killed in different attacks by Boko Haram boys wearing military uniform," Senator Ahmed Zannah told Anadolu Agency Saturday by phone.
The attacks took place over the past four days in villages near Maiduguri, the provincial capital of the restive Borno state.
Zannah denied media reports of suggesting that the attackers had been military personnel.
"It is a decoy. They are not military men. The Boko Haram boys were the ones wearing military uniform," said the lawmaker.
Victims included students travelling for university entry examination holding across Nigeria and at least eight teachers at a Teachers' College in Dikwa, a town about 85kms from Maiduguri.
"Eight teachers were killed when the gunmen attacked their school," Isa Fugu, a resident of Dikwa, told AA by phone.
"We heard that some students travelling to write their Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) were among those killed on Biu-Maiduguri expressway," he added.
Another local resident, Dauda Na'ala, said three people were killed in a separate attack on Kala-Balge village on Thursday.
"They burnt down several houses, killed three elderly people while a few others were injured when trying to flee," Na'ala told AA.
Defense spokesman Chris Olukolade was not immediately available for comment. Calls to his phone went unanswered. He did not respond to a text message left on his phone for comment on the attacks.
Borno, Yobe and Adamawa are Nigeria's three northeastern states gripped by the bloody Boko Haram insurgency. Since May of last year, a state of emergency has remained in effect in all three states.
The emergency rule expires on April 19, with stakeholders from the region calling for an end to the military intervention.
Nigeria's President Goodluck is expected to formally extend or halt the emergency rule in the coming week, failing which a constitutional crisis might erupt on the status of the military intervention.
More than 1000 people have been killed by the Boko Haram insurgency in the first three months of this year alone.
A hitherto peaceful organization that had preached against government corruption, Boko Haram suddenly turned violent in 2009 following the murder of its leader, Mohamed Yusuf, while in police custody.
In the years since, the group has been blamed for thousands of terrorist acts, including attacks on churches and security posts across Nigeria's northern region.
Although it claims to want an Islamist government in the region, Nigerian Muslims – most of whom reject Boko Haram as un-Islamic – have also been targeted by the militant group.
By Rafiu Ajakaye
englishnews@aa.com.tr
