MAIDUGURI, Nigeria
At least 21 people were killed late Wednesday in renewed Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria's northeastern Borno State, multiple sources have said.
"My family told me that the insurgents came to Shaffa – our town in the Hawul Local Government – and opened fire," Ibrahim Msheliza, a Shaffa native who currently lives in Maiduguri, Borno State's provincial capital, told Anadolu Agency.
"They killed my brother… and about 20 [other] people," he said. "Our people have started collecting the corpses."
Msheliza said his slain younger brother, a pastor, had been attached to a popular Pentecostal church in Nigeria.
Boko Haram militants raided the predominantly Christian Shaffa and Shindiffu towns – located some 230km from Maiduguri – late Wednesday.
They reportedly arrived at about 10pm and went on a shooting spree until about midnight, a security source told AA.
He said the militants had attacked Shindiffu first before moving on to Shaffa a few kilometers away.
Shaffa resident Simeon Bata told AA by phone that militants had torched churches, public buildings and the homes of prominent citizens.
The town, he said, was now in a state of collective mourning.
The two towns, located only a few kilometers apart, have both been attacked by militants three times before.
Over the past five years, Boko Haram has terrorized Nigeria's northeastern region, killing thousands of people and destroying numerous businesses.
An estimated six million people have been displaced in the region as a result of the violence.
Boko Haram, which reportedly controls over 20 towns in the region, appears to have suffered a blow in recent weeks as the military continues to carry out coordinated air and land raids targeting its strongholds.
On Tuesday, the army confirmed the killing of a man it insisted had been impersonating Boko Haram's "deceased" leader, Abubakar Shekau.
Outlawed in Nigeria, Turkey and the U.S., Boko Haram has been blamed for thousands of deaths and scores of violent attacks since the group became violent in 2009.
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