Gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members on Monday abducted about seven women and killed three other persons when they attacked a village in the southern part of Borno State, witnesses and the police have said.
The incident took place in Ndagu Village of Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State.
Ndagu village is located near Alagarno, a place that was once known as spiritual headquarters of Boko Haram and was said to have been recently liberated by troops of the Nigeria military.
A leader of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria, VGN, in Borno state, Abbas Gava, informed newsmen that he received a report from one of his colleagues in Askira-Uba Local Government Area that Ndagu in Lassa district came under massive attack by Boko Haram.
Mr. Gava said he was briefed by the Commander of VGN in Askira-Uba, Hamidu Wampana, that many of the residents fled into the jungle when the gunmen set the whole village on fire.
“At about 5.40 p.m. on Monday, Boko Haram group entered Ndagu Village near Lassa, and killed four persons, burnt houses and took away car,” he said.
“We learnt that soldiers of the 115 Battalion and our vigilante operatives have gone on the trail of the terrorists”.
A resident of the attacked village, Ibrahim Askira, said villages and communities in that area have recently been constantly attacked by Boko Haram insurgents who would in most cases loot their food stores.
He said after the attack on Monday, many women were found missing and may have been abducted by the gunmen.
“As I speak with you now, many people who fled to the bush have not returned”, said Mr. Askira.
“We are not sure what has happened to the missing villagers but the gunmen also took away many women, whose number we cannot ascertain yet.
“The people in our village are completely traumatised due to this attack, we cannot be sure of our safety the next night.
“I call on the security agents to be more proactive in dealing with these Boko Haram boys. If the security leave us like this, they will finish us”, he said.
Askira is one of the Borno communities bordering the notorious Alagarno, the erstwhile spiritual headquarters of Boko Haram. It is also not far away from Sambisa forest.
The Borno State Police Commissioner confirmed the attack.
“From the information we have, the attack took place three days ago”, said the CP. And the intelligence gathered was that 7 women were abducted and three persons were also killed. Most of the villagers fled but their houses were completely razed down by fire which the attackers use to set them abkaze”.
He said he has dispatched a team from the commands Criminal Investigation Department to go and ascertain the details of what actually happened.
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