A night raid blamed on Boko Haram has left a dozen villagers dead in southeastern Niger on the frontier with Nigeria, a local official said Saturday.

The attack on Friday night in the border district of Gueskerou, is the latest to hit the Diffa region near Lake Chad, which is crisscrossed by militant groups and traffickers who murder and kidnap people in local communities as they compete for money and influence.

“Twelve villagers were killed on Friday at around 8:00pm (1900 GMT) by Boko Haram elements,” a local elected official told AFP. He said eleven of those killed had been shot, but did not give further details.

The Gueskerou area, abutting the Komadougou Yobe river that provides a natural frontier between Niger and Nigeria, has been exposed to years of killings and kidnappings at the hands of the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram.

In March, two attacks in the area left eight civilians and seven police dead.

Boko Haram, loosely translated as “Western education is banned”, wants to create a hardline Islamic state.

A regional military coalition is battling the group, but at least 27,000 people have been killed in Nigeria alone.

In a related development, across the border in Nigeria, no fewer than 73 houses and 28 shops have been destroyed by Boko Haram during attacks on three villages in the central part of Borno.

Boko Haram raided Borri, Wanori and Kaleri-Abdule villages in Konduga Local Government, some 25 Kilometres to Maiduguri on Thursday night, leaving woes and pains at its trail, residents said.

State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Executive chairman, Hajiya Yabawa Kolo while briefing the state governor, Babagana Zulum during an assessment visit to the villages on Saturday said the insurgents struck at about 8pm last Thursday and set fire on hours and shops.

“In Borri, 17 households and four shops were burnt. In Wanori village, 34 households and 18 shops were also set ablaze while 22 households and 6 shops were torched in Kaleri-Abdule village, bringing the total of houses affected to 73 and 28 shops,” Kolo told the governor.

Gov Zulum in his reaction after assessing the damage promised that Goverment will replace the old structure burnt by the insurgents with new ones.

He expressed hope in the improvement of the security situation in the state. He said President Muhammadu Buhari has given assurances during his visit to the Villa earlier on Friday. He said the president promise was reassuring, urging the people to continue to support the Federal Government.

The governor also met withheld some Civilian JTF members and vigilante in the communities. He directed the release of two patrol vehicles to the volunteer groups to help sustain their surveillance of the area.

•Base on reports by AFP and Saturday Sun.

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