Nigeria: Aid workers killed, injured in Boko Haram raid

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) - At least four aid workers have been killed in a Boko Haram attack in northeastern Nigeria, with others missing and feared abducted or injured, according to state and UN officials.

“Four aid workers were killed, one aid worker was injured, and one aid worker is missing, feared abducted," said UN spokeswoman Stephanie Newport of the Thursday night attack.

“Our hearts go out to our partners who lost their lives in the attack at Rann IDP [internally displaced persons] camp last night. May they Rest in Peace,” the Presidential Committee on the Northeast Initiative (PCNI), the government agency which oversees humanitarian efforts in the insurgency-plagued region, tweeted Friday morning.

Accounts differed on which agencies the slain workers were with. One worked with UNICEF, said PCNI and the UN, while two of the others may have worked for either the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) or the Red Cross.

Local outlet medium Sahara Reporters added that three riot policemen attached to a displaced persons’ camp were also killed.

Separately, a female suicide bomber early Friday attacked a mosque in the town of Buni Yadi in the northeastern Yobe state, killing herself and injuring at least two other civilians, according to local sources.

In January 2017, nearly 100 people, including aid workers, were killed when a Nigerian Air Force fighter jet conducting counterinsurgency operations mistakenly fired at the camp in Rann, triggering global outrage.