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Nine farmers killed in Boko Haram attack in Nigeria
KANO, Nigeria, Nov 20, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Boko Haram members have killed nine
farmers and abducted 12 others in a village in the northeastern Nigerian
state of Borno, the cradle of the jihadist movement, locals told AFP Tuesday.
On Monday, they stormed into fields outside Mammanti village, opening
fire on farmers as they worked, killing nine and injuring three others.
“We recovered nine dead bodies after the attack,” the village chief
Muhammad Mammanti said.
“The insurgents took away 12 people, including women, and macheted three
people who resisted being abducted,” Mammanti.
The jihadists came on bicycles in the afternoon, said Usman Kaka, a
farmer who escaped.
“They just opened fire on us and continued to fire as we fled,” Kaka
said.
“We later returned to find nine people had been killed and three left
with machete cuts on their heads for refusing to go with the gunmen,” he
said.
Last week Wednesday Boko Haram jihadists attacked Mammanti, killing one
person and burning the entire village before stealing hundreds of cattle.
The attack on Mammanti forced residents to moved to the state capital
Maiduguri from where they would commute daily to work on the fields.
Boko Haram has stepped up attacks on farmers and loggers in recent
years, accusing them of passing information to the military.
Despite the government’s insistence that Boko Haram is near defeat, the
group has recently carried out major attacks on military and civilian
targets, killing scores.
More than 27,000 people have died since the start of the insurgency in
the remote northeast in 2009 and 1.8 million are still homeless.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1900HRS