Boko Haram jihadists have killed seven villagers in a dawn raid in Borno State the Nigeria’s northeast. Gunmen in trucks and on motorcycles late Monday attacked Munduri, a village 13 kilometres distance to the Borno state capital Maiduguri, firing guns and rocket-propelled grenades, according to resident Abdullahi Bunu.
He said the attackers seized seven people and beheaded them before setting fire to the entire village, militia leader Umar Ari told AFP by telephone from Maiduguri.
Bunu added that those decapitated were the village chief and his wife, and the entire village was set on fire along with foodstuffs and livestock.
A faction loyal to Abubakar Shekau is notorious for indiscriminate killings of civilians while the Abu Mus’ab Al-Barnawi faction which is affiliated to the so-called Islamic State largely focuses on attacking the military.
Meanwhile, five people have been killed in a similar raid last week in Gasarwa village, near the garrison town of Monguno. The attacks contrast with repeated claims by the military and the government that Boko Haram has been defeated and that it is safe for people displaced by Islamist violence to return home.
The jihadists’ nine-year campaign to establish a hard-line Islamic state has killed an estimate 20,000 people and displaced over 2.6 million from their homes.