By Sadiq Abubakar
Maiduguri
At least 43 people have been reportedly killed in an attack on a community in Borno state by Boko Haram insurgents, security source and residents said.
A group of insurgents, operating with over six Hilux vehicles, stormed Gubio, located in the northern part of the state, on Saturday, and set houses ablaze.
“The troops were in another part of the state carrying out counter-insurgency operation to dislodge Boko Haram from their camps,” the source added.
A member of vigilante group in Gubio, Ali Fanami, said the insurgents arrived the town at about 4:30 p.m. and set houses on fire, forcing people to flee.
“They then opened fire on people. We lost 43 people,” Ali told reporters yesterday when the state Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, paid an unscheduled visit to the town to assess the damage.
Ali said the insurgents burnt over 500 houses, many vehicles and motorcycles.
He also disclosed that the militants packed food items belonging to the locales just as “some of their fighters were busy shooting residents.”
A leader of the vigilante group in the town, Bukar Mandama, said five Boko Haram fighters were killed even as he appealed to the authorities to help with surveillance vehicles to safeguard the people.
Some of the public buildings burnt by the insurgents included the local office of the National Electoral Commission (INEC), schools and a military base.
Governor Shettima urged residents not to flee, assuring them that the government would liaise with the military to provide security.
