At least 87 people have been killed in an attack by Boko Haram militants in Nigeria‘s northeastern Borno state, according to local officials. In an attack carried out by fighters of the Boko Haram, an armed group disguised in military uniforms, the AFP news agency has quoted a state government official as saying:
“Boko Haram fighters set up checkpoints in the Benisheik area and gunned down motorists and travelers who tried to flee.
“Eighty-seven bodies were recovered in the bush and our people are still searching for more,” Saidu Yakubu of the Environmental Protection Agency in northeastern Borno state told journalists on Thursday. He briefed reporters who accompanied Borno’s Governor Kashim Shettima to the scene of the massacre.
“The group also burnt scores of homes and buildings in the late Tuesday assault, according to locals, who reported seeing corpses littering the roadside.
“Details of the attack in the town which has been previously been targeted by Boko Haram first emerged on Wednesday. They came in droves, driving about 20 pickup truck trucks,” said a security source stationed in the town who requested anonymity.
“He said the fighters were armed with ‘anti-aircraft guns,’ in the latest indication that Boko Haram has bolstered its arsenal in recent months.”
