LAGOS
More than 100 people are now believed to have been killed in Tuesday morning reprisal attacks by insurgents on villages across Nigeria's northeast Borno State, according to local sources.
"The death toll has risen to about 100 across the villages of Attagara, Ngoshe and Amuda, because the insurgents caught up with many people believed to have escaped the attacks," Mohamed Ahmed, member of a local vigilante group in Attagara village, told Anadolu Agency on Thursday.
Ahmed said the attackers wore army fatigues.
"We thought they were government soldiers who had come to join hands with the local resistant movement, but they soon opened fire on the villagers," he said.
Two days earlier, hunters and vigilantes in Attagara village repelled an attack on a local church by suspected Boko Haram militants, killing more than 20 of the attackers.
On Tuesday, suspected Boko Haram militants descended on Attagara and the neighboring villages of Ngoshe and Amuda, both of which are in Borno State's Gwoza local government area.
The villages are located not far from the Gwoza Hills, a known Boko Haram stronghold.
Some local newspapers, including the Premium Times, have reported that over 200 people were killed in the attacks.
Senator Ali Ndume, who hails from the Gwoza local government area, confirmed the incident.
"I cannot say the exact number of people killed. But several people certainly lost their lives in different attacks across Gwoza," Ndume told AA by phone.
He said such attacks had become an "everyday affair."
"They are routine. We have drawn the attention of the military to it," Ndume said. "We hope something is done before entire villages are wiped out."
Borno State government spokesman Isa Gusau, for his part, could neither confirm nor deny the reported attacks.
"I am not aware of these attacks. I am not in Borno now, and so I am not in a position to know what happened," Gusau told AA by phone.
Defense spokesman Chris Olukolade, meanwhile, could not be reached for comment.
At least 43 villagers killed in Nigeria's Maiduguri
At least 43 people were killed in a Wednesday attack by suspected Boko Haram militants on Bardari village near Maiduguri, capital of Nigeria's northeastern Borno State, according to local sources.
"The attackers, who we believe are Boko Haram, came to Bardari at about 9:50pm yesterday [Wednesday]," Abba Goni, a Maiduguri resident who originally hails from the village, told Anadolu Agency.
He said the attackers had entered the village in trucks painted to look like army vehicles, which had led the villagers to believe they were soldiers.
"They called out everybody, saying they are around for preaching," Goni said.
"Everybody gathered, unaware that the strangers were Boko Haram. People thought they were serious because they were in military uniform," he added.
The militants then reportedly opened fire on the crowd, killing at least 43.
A military source confirmed to AA that several people had been killed or wounded, but stopped short of providing an exact death toll.
According to the source, the army has since deployed soldiers to the area.
Borno State has been the hardest hit by Nigeria's ongoing Boko Haram insurgency, now in its fifth year.
Boko Haram, which means "Western education is forbidden" in Nigeria's local Hausa language, first emerged in the early 2000s preaching against government misrule and corruption.
The group later became violent, however, after the death of its leader in 2009 while in police custody.
In the five years since, the shadowy sect has been blamed for numerous attacks – on places of worship and government institutions – and thousands of deaths.
By Rafiu Ajakaye, Olarewaju Kola
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