Again, Boko Haram kills 36, razes houses, schools in Borno

Suspected Boko Haram terrorists, who have been holding Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states to ransom yesterday invaded Mafa, the headquarters of Mafa local government area of Borno State, killing over 36 residents before setting ablaze many residential and public buildings.

This fresh incident is happening barely 24 hours after another set of terrorists laid ambush on Mainok village on Saturday night killing over 40 residents with the sacking of the whole community after destroying property worth millions of naira.

On the same Saturday, some suspected terrorists detonated twin bombs at a densely populated area of Ajilari, Gomari Airport general area of Maiduguri Metropolis killing over 70 civilians, mostly football fans watching a live match in a nearby viewing centre.

Within the last one week, more than 300 people were killed while property worth billions of naira were destroyed in separate attacks masterminded by insurgents in troubled Borno.

The gunmen it was gathered invaded the town on Sunday night where they had a field day after overpowering the security operatives on guard and wrecked havoc on innocent civilians.

Mafa is about 40 kilometres drive from Maiduguri metropolis located East on the Maiduguri Gambouru Ngala, a boarder community with Chad and Cameroon Republic.

Our Correspondent gathered that prior to the attack, there were reports last week that some gunmen were sighted close to Mafa, which forced many residents to relocate to Maiduguri and settled with their relatives. When the gunmen eventually invaded the community,  only few courageous residents were still around with security operatives, and after the clash, there were casualties on all the sides including the security operatives, innocent civilians and the terrorists.

The gunmen according to sources, “ came into Mafa town at about midnight using Hilux Toyota vans armed with AK47 rifles, Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s), Rocket Propelled Launchers,  petrol bombs and opened fire on residents who were asleep.

“Property destroyed include schools, residential houses, shops, vehicles, motorcycles, and telecommunication masts, over 80% of the structures in Mafa have been destroyed during the clash”, the source said.

A resident, Mallam Aji Modu Usman who attended the mass burial of  the victims in Mafa on Monday morning said, “ we have so far buried 32 dead bodies this morning in Mafa according to Islamic rites. Among the dead was an old woman while others are men, but we are still recovering more dead bodies in and around Mafa bushes because we suspected some of those who attempted to flee the attackers  were however gunned down”. Usman narrated.

Vanguard