Gunmen kill 40 Borno villagers in fresh attack

Suspected Boko Haram terrorists, in a convoy of Golf Volkswagen vehicles and motorcycles laden with explosives, attacked Dalori village in Borno State at the weekend, killing dozens people.

The North-East zonal Coordinator of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Mohammed Kanar, said that 40 villagers were killed in the attacks while 16 others were hospitalised in Maiduguri.

Kanar disclosed this in a telephone interview in Maiduguri, while speaking on casualties recorded by a team of rescuers at the village.

He said: “We were able to evacuate those that sustained gunshots wounds, and other injuries while fleeing the village in the evening of Saturday. Some were taken to the State Specialists Hospital, Maiduguri, while those that had higher degrees of burns, were referred to University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH).

The casualty figure shot up to 40, and the bodies were deposited at the hospital morgue for identification, before their retrieval for burial.”

He said the villagers that fled to Dalori IDP camp yesterday had to be screened, before being accommodated with existing ones from Bama, Konduga, Marte and Mafa councils of Borno.

Troops of 7 Division of Nigerian Army, however, repelled the insurgents as they attempted to enter Dalori camp and Maiduguri metropolis through Yale village to cause more havoc. The hoodlums fled towards Alau Dam.

Dalori is a farming and herding community, located 12 kilometres east of Maiduguri, the state capital.

Modu Pantami, a villager, said that the insurgents stormed the community through Yale village in a convoy of vehicles and motorcycles in the evening to sneak into Maiduguri without passing through the military posts on Maiduguri-Bama road.

Also confirming the attack in Maiduguri, the Media Coordinator of Operation Lafiya Dole, Col. Mustpaha Anka, in a statement said: “The insurgents came in Golf cars, motorcycles and started opening fire and burning houses. Their motives were to cause rancor and penetrate crowd with suicide bombers.

“While people were running to Gomari Kerkeri village for safety, three female suicide bombers attempted to make their way into the crowd, but were intercepted and subsequently got blown up.”

According to him, during the 45-minute military “fierce repulsion”, lives were also lost, while some people sustained various degrees of injuries while fleeing the attacked village in the evening of Saturday.