At least 40 villagers were killed and several others injured
on Saturday as gunmen believed to be Boko Haram members attacked Dalwa-Masuba
Village in Damboa Local Government Area of Borno State, security sources and a
witness said.
The gunmen who stormed the village in large numbers also
burnt down virtually all buildings in the village as well as three pickup vans
carrying woods to Damboa.
A member of the vigilante in Dalwa-Masuba, who spoke to
journalists in Maiduguri on phone, said no security personnel had reached the
attacked town at the time he was speaking.
“We were on patrol somewhere near Damboa when we heard about
the attack from some of the villagers who ran from the village”, said the
source. “We had to drive to the town on our patrol van; we met the entire
village on fire, and about 40 persons dead, there were bodies all over the
place; three firewood pickups were also set ablaze.”
The police and the military in Borno are yet to formally
confirm the attack, although security sources in Maiduguri, the state capital,
said they had been briefed of the attack.
Dalwa-Masuba is a farming community 40km away from Damboa
Town and about 80km south-west of Maiduguri.
The attack follows similar patterns of attacks on communities
in Borno by the Boko Haram.
The group has continued its attacks and killed thousands of
people despite a state of emergency imposed on Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa in May
last year.
The atrocities of the group, including its kidnap of over
250 teenage, female students in Chibok, Borno State, on April 14, has drawn
international attention and condemnation.
At a security summit in the French capital, Paris, Saturday,
attended by President Goodluck Jonathan, the leaders of Chad, Niger, Benin, and
Cameroun, agreed to share intelligence, and co-ordinate action against the
group which is based in northeast Nigeria, but has operated somewhat freely in
northwest Cameroun, parts of Chad and Niger.
A central intelligence platform will be based in Chad, the
summit agreed, and will allow all countries involved, including the world
powers, to stage a response as necessary.
Representatives of the United States, United Kingdom,
France, and the European Union, also attended the Saturday’s meeting.
PREMIUM TIMES
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