MAIDUGURI: At least 25 people were killed in new suspected Boko Haram attacks in northeastern Nigeria, with many villagers also forced to flee their homes, residents said on Saturday.

“The terrorists stormed Maikadiri around 9am and opened fire on hapless citizens,” resident Simon Templer said.

“They laid siege in daylight because there are no soldiers or police nearby,” said another survivor, Markus Ali, adding: “We counted 21 corpses”. The attackers “killed, destroyed and then fled,” Ali said. Two other villages close to Maikadiri in southern Borno state were also attacked, said Maina Ularamu, chief of the Madagali district.

“The gunmen arrived on 10 motorbikes, two or three on each bike and attacked Kopa, Maikadiri and Yaffa” villages, he said. He said four people were killed in Yaffa.

He claimed that the extremists used to live in the villages before joining Boko Haram.

“Now they have no limits and they are preying on their own community because of the pressure the army offensive has put on them,” Ularamu said. The villages hit are on the fringes of the vast Sambisa forest, a longstanding hideout of the Islamist insurgents.

The Nigerian army has led a series of raids against them in recent months, succeeding in freeing several dozen women and children from the hands of the jihadists.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2015

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