Boko Haram
gunmen killed dozens of people in four villages in Borno, slitting some
residents’ throats and opening fire on others, one resident and the
police said on Tuesday. The atrocities near Monguno in the northeastern
state of Borno took the death toll since Muhammau Buhari became
president in late May to more than 625, according to an AFP count. read more after the cut
Buhari on Monday further signalled his
intent to crush the six-year Islamist uprising by sacking the entire
military high command that oversaw the Islamists’ rise in strength last
year. The latest raids happened late last Friday.
On Monday, a suicide bomber blew himself
up in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, a day after the first suicide
attack in northern Cameroon that killed at least 11. In another sign of
the rebels’ threat to regional security, a suicide bomber disguised as a
woman in a full-face veil blew himself up in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena,
on Saturday, killing 15.
Area hit before
Sheriff Kulo, from Kilwa, said militant
fighters stormed his village late on Friday night, killing residents
before stealing food and cattle then burning down homes. “In Kilwa
alone, they killed seven people, including the village head and left one
seriously injured with a fracture on his leg,” he added.
“They then proceeded to Gwollam, Misala
and Magaram, where they did the same thing. In all they killed 43,” he
told newsmen from Maiduguri, where he fled to raise the alarm. “They
opened fire on residents and in some cases they used knives to slaughter
their victims.”
There was no independent corroboration
of his toll but the Borno state police commissioner, Aderemi Padokun,
said: “From what we heard, the gunmen raided these villages. “They shot
dead their victims and in some cases slit their throats. They also
carted away foodstuffs and livestock.
“We don’t have details of the actual
number of people killed in the attack but I can confirm it
happened.” Boko Haram mounted a similar raid on a nearby village in the
Monguno area on July 1, killing 48 people.
New brass
Buhari’s removal of the military top
brass he inherited from his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, was expected
but he indicated that his new team must deliver. The replacement
officials, including a new chief of army staff and national security
adviser both from Borno which has been worst affected by the violence,
were chosen “on merit”, he told them.
Retired army colonel Hassan Stan-Labo
told newsmen he welcomed the changes at the top and called on Buhari to
now overhaul military logistics and communications. Lagos-based
political analyst Jide Ogunlesi said the appointments indicated Buhari –
a former army general and military ruler – “can pick a good team that
can deliver”.
But he warned against politicising the
military in the way some alleged the former high command was during
Jonathan’s administration. “Critics will be silenced when they see these
officers perform,” he told pressmen. “I think their appointment will
give a fillip and a stronger bite to the fight against terrorism and all
forms of banditry.”
Regional force
Nigeria’s military has been
traditionally dominated by officers from the mainly Muslim north and
Jonathan was accused of ignoring the insurgency because he was from the
Christian-majority south. Some saw regional bias in the appointments
with Buhari also a Muslim from the north, while others said the high
command should be given time to be effective in their new positions.
Boko Haram’s upsurge in attacks on
civilians comes after a four-nation coalition of Nigeria, Niger, Chad
and Cameroon pushed out the militants from captured territory earlier
this year. A new, strengthened force with African Union backing is
expected to deploy by the end of the mont
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