30 people dead as gunmen invade yet another Borno village

At least 30 villagers were killed and several others injured as gunmen attacked Shawa village in Damboa local government area of Borno State, witnesses said.

The attack on the village, which is about 25km away from Damboa town, took place at about 4am when the gunmen crept upon sleeping villagers, shooting and setting houses ablaze with petrol bombs.

A resident of Shawa village who managed to escape the killings said the gunmen continually chanted “Allahu akbar” (God is great) while shooting sporadically.

“It was at about 4am when we began to hear the sounds of vehicles; then it was followed by shooting of guns. We immediately knew we were in trouble”, said Musa Yakubu, a resident of the village, who spoke on phone from Biu where he fled to during the attack.

An official spokesman of the Nigerian Vigilance Group, Muhammed Gava, who also confirmed the incident to LEADERSHIP, said apart from killing 30 people, the gunmen also  set many houses ablaze, including 100 bags of maize and another 50 bags of millet stored for sales in the coming market days,  and went away with many goats and rams.

“Our men in Damboa had visited the village in the morning and reported to us that the village, which is close to Kilakisa community along Biu-Maiduguri highway, had been deserted; and they had to help gather the corpses for burial,” Gava said.