Suspected Boko Haram gunmen killed no
fewer than 37 people in five villages around Maiduguri, the capital of
Borno State, a military source and a local village defence group said on
Friday.
The attackers, who arrived on
motorcycles and in four-wheel drive vehicles, fired into houses and shot
fleeing locals on Wednesday evening and in the early hours of Thursday,
the military source added.
“Reports indicated a total of 37 people
were killed by the insurgents during the separate attacks,” said the
source who asked not to be named.
A member of a village defence group
known locally as the Civilian Joint Task Force, Malum Idrissa, also told
Reuters that the death toll was 37 and that the affected villages were
56 miles from Maiduguri.
Details
of the attack emerged a day after President Muhammadu Buhari held a
summit with regional counterparts to set up a joint military force to
counter Boko Haram.
The Boko Haram terror group has killed thousands and left about 1.5 million displaced in the last six years.
The military relocated its command centre to Maiduguri this week for a renewed effort to tackle the Boko Haram activities.
Over 80 people were killed in bomb blasts in the city last week by the insurgents.