SAN FRANCISCO, January 20, (THEWILL) – A fresh Boko Haram attack in Alau Ngawo Fatie village, Jere Local Government Area Borno State, has left 18 persons dead.
The gunmen struck Sunday night, a few days after a similar attack on the Nigeria-Niger border town of Gashigar,killing 15 persons.
The Gashigar attack had sent fears into the residents of the fishing community who decided to flee into neighbiuring Nigerien villages.
Narrating the ordeal of his people in the hands of the insurgents, the village head of Alau, Bulama Ibrahim Alau, said:”The Boko Haram insurgents came and launched the attack at about 10pm shooting people and burning houses.
“They were in the village operating for nearly two hours without any security personnel coming to the aid of the villagers.”
According to the village head, “I personally counted 18 bodies of victims made of men, women and children after the Boko Haram members had left the village.
“Most of those who survived the attack have fled the village as they do not know if they will be attacked again in the future.”
On the cause of the attack, he said,” I think they attacked us because our youths have joined the Civilian JTF.”
His revelation came as a former councillor in Jere Local Government Area, Mustapha Galtimari, confirmed that 18 corpses were counted by the villagers after the Boko Haram attack on the village.
He alleged that several calls were made to security operatives for intervention without any response, saying the villagers were left at the mercy of the insurgents for about two hours.
He said many residents of the village have fled for fear of future attacks.
Though the Police could not confirm the attack, the spokesman of 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Col Muhammadu Dole,said: “Yes there was an attack on Alau but we don’t have the details yet.”
