News / Nigeria

New Boko Haram attacks kill 145 in NE Nigeria: Witnesses

Thursday, 02 July 2015 4:19 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 02 July 2015 6:27 PM ]

Nigerian police and civilians inspect the site of a bomb attack at a busy cattle market in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri on June 2, 2015. (© AFP)

At least 145 people have been killed in fresh attacks by suspected Boko Haram militants on homes and mosques in Nigeria’s restive northeast, witnesses say.

Mohammed Tahir, a local lawmaker, said on Thursday that the militants gunned down 48 Muslim worshippers and injured 11 others during their Wednesday’s assault on two villages located in Nigeria’s volatile Borno State.

The remarks came shortly after witnesses said that almost 100 people died in a similar attack by the militants in the same region.

“The attackers have killed at least 97 people,” Kolo, a local from Kukawa village in Borno State, told AFP on Thursday, adding that he had counted the bodies of the victims.

A police officer stands at the scene of a bombing at a bus station in Maiduguri, the capital and the largest city of Nigeria’s northeastern Borno State, June 22, 2015. (© AFP)

“They wiped out the immediate family of my uncle...They killed his children, about five of them, and set his entire house ablaze,” Kolo added.

Babami Alhaji Kolo, another witness to the incident, also said that over 50 militants stormed the Nigerian village early Wednesday evening.

“The terrorists first descended on Muslim worshippers in various mosques who were observing the Maghrib (sunset) prayer shortly after breaking their fast,” Alhaji Kolo said, noting that the worshipers were mostly men and young children.

He added that “while some of the terrorists waited and set most of the corpses on fire, others proceeded to houses and shot indiscriminately at women who were preparing food.”

Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly shooting attacks and bombings in Nigeria since the beginning of their militancy in 2009, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 13,000 people.

Back in February, four nations of the Lake Chad Basin - Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria - launched a campaign, together with a contingent from Benin, to confront the threat from Boko Haram militants in the region.

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