Suspected terrorists kill farmers in northeastern Nigeria

By Anadolu Staff

An unknown number of farmers have been killed in an attack by suspected terrorists in Nigeria’s northeast Borno state, an official said on Monday.

In a statement, Usman Tar, the state commissioner of Information and Internal Security in Borno state, said that the attack occurred on Sunday at Dumba community, near Baga in Kukawa local government area, according to the Punch a local publication.

Tar said the attack is suspected to have been carried out by terrorist group Boko Haram and its breakaway faction loyal to the ISIS (Daesh) terrorist group in Borno’s Dumba community.

The report initially indicated that about 40 farmers had been killed while the whereabouts of many who escaped the attack are being traced for reunion with their families.

Borno’s Governor Babagana Umara Zulum condemned the attack and called on security personnel to track and obliterate the insurgent elements that are operating at Dumba and other similar enclaves in the Lake Chad Area.

Boko Haram launched a bloody insurgency in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria but later spread its atrocities to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a military response.

More than 35,000 people have been killed and nearly 3 million displaced in a decade of Boko Haram's violence in Nigeria, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Violence by Boko Haram has affected 26 million people in the Lake Chad region and displaced 2.6 million others, according to the UN Refugee Agency.