About seven persons, including a soldier, were at the weekend killed in Bam and Gajigana villages of Biu and Magumeri Local Government Areas of Borno State.

In the two attacks, while unspecified numbers of teenage girls were abducted in Bam Village, scores of people were injured in Gajigana village after insurgents set ablaze shops and houses without confrontation.

Bam is about 7 kilometres away from Buratai village the home town of Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai. Buratai village has suffered series of Boko Haram attacks including the razing down of a mansion owned by the Army General.

A resident of the area who fled to Miringa town for safety, Mallam Ali Bam, told said on phone that the insurgents went to the village at about 3:30 a.m. at the weekend and set ablaze the whole village, after killing four persons and fled unchallenged with unspecified number of unmarried teenage girls kidnapped.

He said: “The Boko Haram terrorists after separating a lot of teenage girls from married women in Bam, set ablaze the whole village and fled with the girls unchallenged, as the attack lasted for some hours before they fled. I called on General Buratai to do something as we have been telling the soldiers that the Boko Haram were so close to the village, but they only went to Mangari village which is few kilometers away from Buratai and shot into the air and left. The soldiers don’t want to confront the terrorists, Buratai should better do something before they start attacking and sacking villages, as they were doing before.”

Similarly, Boko Haram terrorists attacked and burnt down Gajiganna village killing three persons including a soldier before carting away a lot of foodstuff.

Gajigana is north and about 50 kilometres drive from Maiduguri.

A member of the Civilian JTF from the area, Mallam Aliyu Jibrin, disclosed that the insurgents came at 8:30 p.m. on Friday and started shooting sporadically into the air to scare people. Jibrin said they killed one man, one woman and a soldier before they carted away a lot of foodstuff after setting ablaze all the shops in the village.

“I believe it was a revenge mission, because recently, we arrested over 17 Boko Haram insurgents in the community and handed them over to the military. I am calling on the Federal government and the military authorities to do something about the pockets of insurgents in the bushes and villagers before they regroup and start attacking big towns and villages,” he stated.

Jibrin lamented that the attack on Gajigana could have been avoided if soldiers acted on the information at hand, but when they came the soldiers took to their heels without facing the insurgents.

•Adapted from a Vanguard report. Photo shows scene of a Boko Haram attack.

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