The latest incident which occurred on Tuesday night in Dumba near Baga, Kukawa Local Government area of Borno State, was not immediately known in Maiduguri due to the telephone shut down by the nation’s security agencies. It was believed to have been perpetrated by the Boko Haram men. Sources said the attackers came and held the villagers hostage till the early hours of Wednesday, slit the throats of their victims and left heavy casualties.
“They butchered people like animals and even gorged the eyes of some of the victims,” a source who claimed to have gotten the information from fleeing residents on Friday told journalists in Maiduguri.
The Boko Haram men were also said to have set fire on some houses in the village even as the lucky ones among the villagers escaped to Baga town where they now take refuge. Dumba is few kilometres away from Baga, a Nigeria-Chad border town that has witnessed more attacks by the insurgents in recent time.
An official of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) who did not want his name in print said some rescue workers including Red Cross and doctors- without- borders (Sans Frontiers) have already mobilized to the area from Maiduguri to provide medical services for the surviving villagers who he said, are taking refuge at Baga. The agency is expected to set camp for the displaced persons at Baga Central Primary School today (Saturday).
“As I am speaking to you now, Red Cross officials and the Medicine Frontier are attending to the injured persons’’ the source said.
When contacted, the Media Coordinator of the Multi-National Joint Task Force, Lieutenant Haruna Sani in an email message said he was not aware of the incident.
“I am right now in Adamawa State for an assignment and due to the network problem, I have difficulty reaching my headquarters. I suggest you find out from defence headquaters, may be they are in the picture of the incident,” he said.
From TIMOTHY OLANREWAJU, Maiduguri
Culled from The Sun newspaper
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