Nigeria: Six farmers killed in Boko Haram attack ⁰

Boko Haram militants have launched an attack on a village outside the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, killing at least six farmers.

Locals and the civilian militia said the fatalities took place on Sunday, when the Takfiri extremist group raided Lawanti village in the Jere area of Borno state.

“Our people went to the farm to work. Seven Boko Haram on two motorbikes met them and slaughtered two, then killed the other four. They killed six people in all,” said Mohammed Asheik, from the Civilian Joint Task Force assisting the Nigerian military with security in the northeast.

Jidda Ahmed, a local resident, also confirmed the report and said his elder brother, Musa Jidda, had been “shot and beheaded” as he tried to flee.

Over the past months, attacks on isolated rural communities in the remote state of Borno have been a feature of Boko Haram’s militancy.

Boko Haram has been largely pushed out of its main strongholds in northern Nigeria, according to the country’s military and government. The group, however, is still active in its Sambisa Forest enclave in Borno and launches sporadic attacks on civilians and security forces from there.

The Nigerian military launched renewed counter-terrorism offensives after the end of the rainy season in northeastern Nigeria in September. Those offensives have diminished Boko Haram’s capacity to launch attacks, but the government warns that the group can still attack civilians at “soft” targets such as mosques, markets, and camps for displaced people.

At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than 2.6 million others displaced as a result of eight years of Boko Haram militancy, which has also affected Nigeria’s neighbors, including Niger, Cameroon, and Chad.

Source:Presstv