KANO, Nigeria: Boko Haram gunmen killed dozens of people in four villages in northeast Nigeria, slitting some residents’ throats and opening fire on others, one resident and the police said on Tuesday.
The atrocities near Monguno in the northeastern state of Borno took the death toll since Muhammau Buhari became president in late May to more than 625, according to an AFP count.
Buhari on Monday further signalled his intent to crush the six-year Islamist uprising by sacking the entire military high command that oversaw the Islamists’ rise in strength last year.
The latest raids happened late last Friday but details have only just emerged because of poor to non-existent phone networks in the remote area.
On Monday, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, a day after the first suicide attack in northern Cameroon that killed at least 11.
In another sign of the rebels’ threat to regional security, a suicide bomber disguised as a woman in a full-face veil blew himself up in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, on Saturday, killing 15.
Sheriff Kulo, from Kilwa, said militant fighters stormed his village late on Friday night, killing residents before stealing food and cattle then burning down homes.