Boko Haram Attacks Borno Again, Kills District Head, 19 Others

The spate of attacks by Islamic terrorists continued yesterday; the fourth time in three days, as they killed 20 people, including a traditional ruler in Borno State, local government and security officials said Wednesday.

Gunmen had yesterday morning attacked the village of Wala, in Gwoza district, killing 18 people, and injuring several others, according to a local government official and intelligence agent, who both spoke to newsmen on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to reporters.

Wala village is in Gwoza Local Government Area, some 130 kilometres southwest of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

“We are in difficult times in Gwoza Local Government; deaths and killings have become a daily affair; 18 people were killed in Wala this morning by the Boko Haram gunmen,” the local government official said.

A senior officer of the Department of State Security Service (DSS) also confirmed the killing in Wala, but asked not to be quoted.

“We have just received the report from our officers in Gwoza that the Boko Haram gunmen attacked Wala village and killed 18 poor souls there; it is a rather an unfortunate and sad development despite our efforts up here,” he said.

The DSS officer also confirmed that some 12 hours earlier, another set of gunmen attacked Sabon-Kasuawa village in Hawul Local Government Area, 210 kilometres south of Maiduguri, where they killed a district head and his guard.

“They simply walked right into the palace of the monarch and shot him in his bedroom, and on their way out they also shot his guard before fleeing,” said politician Hyeldi Bwala.

Gwoza is the one of mountainous countryside of Borno State that shares borders with Cameroun in its south and Sambissa in its north. Gwoza’s rocky mountains have served as a hideout for Boko Haram terrorists and the peopleof the area have suffered multiple attacks in recent times.

The five-year-old Islamic uprising has resulted in the death of more than 1,500 people this year, almost half of the deaths recorded from the sect’s attacks from 2010 to 2012, which was estimated as 3,600.