150 drown, killed fleeing Boko Haram

Some 150 people have died in a village in Yobe State while fleeing from Boko Haram gunmen who attacked the area. A report yesterday by AFP quoted residents of the village as saying the victims either drowned in a river or were shot dead by the Islamic militants.
They said a group of militants who came to the village, Kukuwa-Gari, last Thursday on motorcycles and in a car opened fire on the residents, forcing many of them to flee for their lives. “They opened fire instantly, which forced residents to flee.
They shot a number of people. Unfortunately, many residents who tried to flee plunged into the river, which is full from the rain. Many drowned. “By our latest toll, we have 150 people either (shot dead) or drowned in the attack. The gunmen deliberately killed a fisherman who tried to save drowning residents of the village,” a villager, Modu Balumi, said. Balumi said the bodies of many of the drowned were picked out by locals several kilometres away.
News of the attack was slow to emerge because the militants have destroyed telecom masts around the village, which is about 50 kilometres from Damaturu, the state capital, since the insurgency began in 2009. In his own account of the incident, another villager, Bukar Tijjani, said: “Most residents, particularly women and children, ran towards the river in confusion. “They were pursued by the gunmen who kept firing at them. In the frantic effort to escape they jumped into the river, which was full to the brim.”
A local government official confirmed the attack, but put the death toll at around 50. The ambush came during the region’s peak rainy season, when most waterways in the North-East are swollen and can flow with dangerous speed. The village was still reeling from a raid by the suspected Boko Haram militants on July 31 when at least 10 people were killed by gunmen who burned homes, food silos and livestock.


For the full story, check New Telegraph newspaper.


























































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