The Boko Haram militants in their hundreds again attacked Damasak and Ashigarchi towns in Mobbar local government area of Borno yesterday morning, killing over 50 persons in Damasak alone.
A resident who spoke with the BBC Hausa service said the sect members came on Hillux vans and motor bikes, and while some wore military fatigues other were in mufti.
The dead, including soldiers, may have died and several others injured in the attack, security sources and witnesses said.
The gunmen, who drove into Damasak, a border community between Nigeria and Cameroon, also burnt vehicles, houses and forced hundreds of residents fleeing to the Cameroonian borders.
According to accounts of witnesses who spoke from their hideouts, the gunmen arrived in Damasak at about 10am.
Bashir Salihu, a local trader told journalists on phone that the terrorists started shooting at everyone as soon as they entered the town, while chanting Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar (God is great).
He said even the soldiers deployed in Damasak had to take to their heels upon seeing that the gunmen had killed some of their colleagues.
“They may have killed more than 50 people because they attacked a densely populated area of the town where most of the commercial activities take place,” Salihu said.
“Many houses have been burnt down as well as shops very close to the market area. We all had to run for our lives because even the soldiers that were armed fled before everyone.”
Muhammed Abbas Gava, an official of the Nigeria Vigilante Group who also confirmed the incident, “Presently, the Boko Haram terrorists have sacked everyone from Damasak, and they had packed away properties of fleeing residents.
“From the reports we got from our colleagues in Damasak, they killed over 50 persons, injured several others and burnt houses before taking away some of the young persons including females; no one is in the town including the soldiers who had also abandoned their posts and fled”, said Gava,
The Senator Representing northern Borno Senatorial district, Senator Maina Maaji Lawan, also confirmed the attack while fielding questions during a BBC Hausa service broadcast.
A top official of the SSS, who spoke but wished not to be quoted, confirmed to LEADERSHIP reporter on phone that “we received a signal that Damasak was under attack and as at afternoon of Monday more than 30 persons had been killed and this include some soldiers of the Nigeria Army. The death toll might increase because the attackers targeted densely populated part of the town.”
Damasak is one of the boisterous border towns of Borno State where farm produce like beans, pepper and tomatoes are produced in commercial quantity.
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