B’Haram fighters disguise as preachers, kill 24

Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau

Suspected members of the Boko Haram sect have attacked Kwajafa village in Borno State killing 24 persons and injuring over a dozen others, a security source has revealed.

They also set the village mosque on fire.

The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the insurgents stormed the village on Sunday evening.

He said, “The insurgents who rode to the town in Volkswagen Golf cars on Sunday evening, told the villagers that they were there to preach. They however opened fire on the people as soon as they gathered an appreciable number of the villagers in the village square.”

He lamented that some of the residents who were in a mosque at the time of the attack were not spared as the insurgents set them ablaze.

He said mostly killed were those who could not immediately decipher that the disguised preachers were Boko Haram members on a deadly mission.

A nurse at the General Hospital, Biu, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said some injured persons were brought to the hospital from Kwajafa, some 35 kilometres away for treatment.

The medical worker added that some of the injured persons were treated in other health facilities in Kwajafa.

It will be recalled that Kwajafa, which is about 220 kilometres from Maiduguri, has witnessed two major Boko Haram attacks in the past.

Investigations revealed that past attacks forced people to flee the village but some of them returned after peace returned to the community.

Meanwhile, the Borno State Accountant-General, Hajiya Mairo Bunu, on Monday appealed to donor agencies to mobilise support for the rehabilitation of victims of Boko Haram insurgency in the state.

Bunu made the appeal when she presented some relief materials to Governor Kashim Shettima for the victims.

She said the Boko Haram insurgency had resulted in mass destruction of infrastructure which might be difficult to rebuild without the support of the international community.