B’Haram strikes again, kills 20 in Borno

Boko Haram members

Suspected members of the Boko Haram sect on Thursday attacked two towns in Borno State killing 20 people.

It was reported that the terrorists started their attack by opening fire in a market and killing 15 people in Gajiran Local Government Area of Borno State.

They later went to a nearby village, Bulabulin Ngawra in Konduga LGA of the state where about five other people were killed.

Our correspondent gathered that the attack which was carried out in two Local Government Areas in Borno State occurred between 10pm and 2am on Thursday.

According to a source, as a result of the destruction unleashed on the two towns, the surviving residents fled their homes through bush paths.

Gajiran residents speaking to journalists in the state capital, Maiduguri said the gunmen pretended to be traders attending a local market.

“Some of them came aboard trucks while others came on foot to beat the security checks at the entrance of the town,” resident Ibrahim Bulama told AFP.

They then “blended among traders conducting business,” before opening fire in the market, killing 15 people, he told reporters.

They also set fire to a  building belonging to Ngwara LGA and a police post.

Gajiran is roughly 85 kilometres (50 miles) from the capital.

There has been no mobile phone service in Borno since the middle of May, when the Federal Government declared a state of emergency across most of the northeast and launched an offensive aimed at crushing Boko Haram’s insurgency.

The military has said it switched off the phones to block the Islamists from coordinating attacks.

It has also claimed the offensive left the insurgents in disarray and curbed their ability to attack to civilians.

While the violence has persisted amid the military campaign, the pattern of attacks suggests that the insurgents have targeted more remote regions, perhaps where the presence of security forces is reduced.