Turkey denounces Boko Haram terror attack in Nigeria

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey on Sunday slammed the Boko Haram terror attack which left at least 44 farmers killed in northeastern Nigeria.

"We are deeply saddened by the news that more than 40 farm workers lost their lives and many seriously wounded in the heinous attack organized by the terrorist organization Boko Haram on a rice field in the town of Zabarmari in Borno State of Nigeria on 28 November 2020," the Foreign Ministry said in a written statement.

The ministry extended "sincere condolences" to the families of those who lost their lives, as well as to the "friendly and brotherly" people and the government of Nigeria, and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

The farmers working in rice fields in the Garin Kwashebe village of Borno state were attacked by the terror group, according to Hassan Zabarmari, former head of Borno Farmers Union.

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 30,000 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.