Tears , Wailing as Boko Haram kills 30 people, abducts 100 women, kids, teenagers in Borno

It was tears, wailing and mourning in Borno state as Boko Haram insurgents raided another Borno community in a commando style.

The attack lasted over six hours. They killed at least 30 people and took away more than 100 women, children and teenagers.

The attack was revealed by fleeing victims Wednesday night. They said it occurred last Friday at Gumsuri, a small but commercially active town in Damboa Local Government, south of Borno along Chibok road where over 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped by Boko Haram eight months ago.

In a manner reminiscent of the April 14 abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls few metres away, armed Boko Haram fighters arrived Gamsuri at about 5.30pm last Friday, shooting sporadically, sources said.

 “They were firing into different directions and throwing explosive devices into houses and forcing people to rush out of their houses,” Usman Kida, a resident of Damboa told Daily Sun on phone, adding that the insurgents came with over five 4-wheel drive vehicles “with arms.”

Usman said his relations who were lucky to escape to Damboa, about 10 kilometres away recounted their ordeal and that of Gamsuri residents in the hand of the Boko Haram sect. He said at least 30 people, mostly men, who either attempted to escape or were “too scared to come out” some were shot dead, while some slaughtered by the insurgents.

A youth vigilante who did not want his name in print, said the insurgents separated women, children and teenagers from other men where they had gathered them, claiming the insurgents vowed to marry off the teenagers “since their parents could not do that.” He described the abduction as sad and barbaric, calling on authority to empower the youth volunteers to safeguard the communities.

News of the attack could not get to the military authority for quick response because of breakdown of communication facilities, a military source said. Most of the telecom facilities in the area have been destroyed by the sect in its five years old violent campaigns in the northern part of the country.

A security source  said the some military troops who were mobilized to the area after the attack intercepted the insurgents near a bush as they were attempting to flee, adding that troops engaged the insurgents in a shoot out. “Some of them were killed and one of their vehicle mounted with anti-aircraft gun was destroyed,” he said though Daily Sun could not verify the claim as at press time. Authority was yet to react to the incident.

Cameroon army kills 116 Boko Haram militants

Cameroon’s army killed 116 Boko Haram militants on Wednesday when they attacked a base in the Far North region of the country, said defense ministry spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Didier Badjeck.

Militants ambushed a column of army vehicles using an improvised explosive device and then hundreds attacked in the region of Amchide, 65 km (40 miles) north of Maroua, at around 10.30 a.m. local time (0430 ET).

“The response of our forces was swift and appropriate. The attack was repulsed and the attackers neutralized,” Badjeck said yesterday, adding that 116 militants died. One soldier was killed and at least two vehicles lost.

Boko Haram has killed hundreds of people this year, mostly in northeastern Nigeria, as it continues a campaign for an Islamist state. Most of the killings have been in northeastern Nigeria, but the group has attacked other cities and stepped up cross-border incursions into Cameroon, prompting Cameroon to deploy troops to its northern region.

A senior official in Cameroon’s Far North region confirmed Wednesday’s attack and the toll and said it was followed by another attack overnight for which casualties are unknown.

The army determines death tolls either visually, or by counting the number of vehicles it destroys and estimating how many militants each vehicle carried, said the official, who declined to be identified.

Adapted from Sun