Gunmen believed to be members of the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko
Haram, killed more than 40 people in Konduga town, Borno state late Tuesday.
The assailants, who also abducted 25 teenage girls and set
houses on fire, attacked the only hospital in the town, kidnapped the medical
doctor and made away with drugs and medical equipments.
Konduga, a town along Maiduguri-Bama Road, is about 40
kilometres from Maiduguri, the state capital.
The gunmen also used explosives to destroy the town’s
central mosque, the palace of the district head, the market and the Abba Ashigar
School of Business and Administrative Studies.
Residents of the town, however, claimed that over 100 people
were killed during the attack, adding that many corpses were still in the bush
surrounding the community.
The Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, betrayed emotion as
he shed tears when he visited the town on Wednesday to witness the burial rites
of 33 of the victims.
Sources said 18 other corpses had already been buried before
the governor’s arrival.
Already, many residents of the town were fleeing by the time
the governor was visiting.
Numbering over 200, the insurgents reportedly stormed the
town around 4pm in 39 Toyota Hilux vehicles, wielding sophisticated weapons
including propelled grenade (RPGS), assault rifles and explosive devices.
By around 8pm when they were leaving, 80 per cent of houses
in the town had been torched, while resident harvested scores of corpses.
Some of the residents of the town, who claimed that the
soldiers and the volunteer youth vigilance group were overpowered by the
insurgents, lamented that they were left at the mercy of the assailants.
“They killed our people at will and destroyed our houses
with explosives,” one of the residents told journalists.
A resident of the town, who spoke with journalists on the
condition of anonymity said, “About seven gunmen came to where I was. One was
on the tree pointing his rifle down and the others were shooting sporadically
even as they threw explosives at the houses.”
According to him, two persons including a boy were felled by
the insurgents’ bullets which he claimed he narrowly escaped.
One Alhaji Ibrahim told journalists that some wares were
burnt at the market as the shops were destroyed with explosives.
Ibrahim said, “We saw so many vehicles coming, the soldiers
exchanged fire with them. But they (soldiers) later fled after they were
overpowered by the gunmen. The Civilian JTF men were also overpowered and we
were left at the mercy of the assailants.”
A teacher in the town, who suffered burns from the attack,
Yana Kwada, said from his hiding place he saw the insurgents abducting five
teenage girls from the market.
He added that he saw another group of insurgents who had
abducted another set of 20 teenage girls from the Government Girls’ Secondary
School and Ashigar School of Business and Administrative Studies.
Kwada believed that the insurgents must have taken the girls
to their camps believed to be in the forest.
Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency has
moved into the town to establish camps for the displaced persons.
The agency, in a
press statement by the North-East Zonal Information Officer, Abdulkadir
Ibrahim, stated, “The Zonal office received the reports from the Nigerian Red
Cross on the occurrence of attacks on Tuesday, February 11, 2014 at around 5pm
by unknown gunmen.
“The coordinated
attack took place in Konduga, a town along Maiduguri-Bama Road which is about
40 kilometres away from the state capital, Maiduguri, Borno State.
“According to some residents, the gunmen were said to be in
large numbers, with very sophisticated weapons such as guns, IED, etc.
“Assessment has been
carried out and the registration of Internally Displaced people (IDPS) has
begun. Basic relief items will soon be delivered.”
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