According to the local authorities, the incident is a reprisal for two Boko Haram insurgents who were killed by vigilantes in the area.
At least 127 people were killed when suspected Boko Haram terrorists rode into a hamlet in northeastern Nigeria on motorbikes, opened fire in a market, and set stores and homes on fire, according to authorities and Amnesty International.
One of the three states at the forefront of a 15-year insurgency was Yobe, where the attack took place.
Over two million Nigerians have been displaced and thousands of them have died.
According to Dungus Abdulkarim, a spokesman for the Yobe police, the attack in the Mafa hamlet was obviously a kind of reprisal after two suspected Boko Haram members were killed by vigilantes in the area.
Abdulkarim continued, “The militants chased other residents into the bush and shot them after they shot at the market and set buildings on fire.”
“The terrorists killed many people, but we are yet to ascertain the actual number of casualties,” Abdulkarim said.
high death toll
According to a military official who traveled to Mafa with the army’s commanding officer for Yobe, the village’s route was wired for explosives, which the forces were able to neutralize.
“We located 37 bodies and transported them to Babangida General Hospital,” stated the officer, who wished to remain anonymous due to lack of authority to address the press.
A villager named Modu Mohammed reported that over 100 people had died and that numerous more were still unaccounted for.
There were still some dead in the jungle, he claimed.
