The attack happened in the village of Azaya Kura in the Mafa
area of Borno state on Wednesday, the caretaker chairman of Mafa local
government area, Shettima Lawan said, calling it “wicked and despicable”.
Village chief Mallam Bulama said: “We counted 45 bodies at
the end of the attack.”
But other residents said more may have died after they fled
into the bush.
Mafa, which is about 50 kilometres (30 miles) east by road
from the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, and the surrounding area has been
repeatedly attacked by the Islamist insurgents.
On October 26, suspected Boko Haram fighters abducted about
30 boys and girls, some of them as young as 11 and 13, while locals complained
of almost daily raids that had forced many to flee.
Some 29 people were killed in March this year after flyers
were sent warning of an impending attack — a tactic used by the extremists
elsewhere in the region in their quest for a hardline Islamic state.
In the latest attack, heavily armed militants arrived on
motorcycles at about 12:00 pm (1100 GMT) on Wednesday as villagers were at
work.
“So far, 45 men have been killed and there are others that
died in the bushes as a result of bleeding from bullet wounds,” said on
resident, who gave his name only as Jabiru.
Trader Musa Abbani, who fled to Maiduguri, added: “The
attackers destroyed more than half of the houses in our village, burnt over 50
motorcycles and four cars before they took away foodstuff and animals.”
A village elder, Mohammed Bukar, said: “We are still picking
our pieces and looking for our missing people, especially those who could not
be seen in Maiduguri.”
Survivors, most of them the elderly, were seen making
preparations to bury the dead.
Fifty people were said to have been injured and locals said
the militants, who have said to have captured more than two dozen northeast
towns, blocked exits to prevent people fleeing.
Lawan, who visited Azaya Kura on Thursday under tight
security, said: “How can some people be so wicked to kill innocent people, 45
people at once without any confrontation?
“There is no compulsion in religion and I am still searching
for the motive behind mass killing and destruction by some people under the
guise of entrenching certain religion.
“I wish to appeal to the Federal Government to take urgent
steps and rescue our people from imminent extinction.”
