150 drowned, shot by Boko Haram in Nigeria

Suspected Islamist militants attacked a northeastern Nigerian village, killing seven people and stealing livestock, witnesses said.

Witnesses said the bodies of numerous drowned were pulled out by locals several kilometers away. “Most of the victims died in the river while trying to escape”, Kukuwa-Gari resident Bukar Tijjani told AFP. “Many drowned”, Modu Balumi, a resident of the village, tells AFP.

The ban which was contained in a statement signed and made available to The Punch by the Brigade’s Army Public Relations Officer, Captain Nuhu Jafaru, stated that the step was adopted as part of the military strategy to carry out its operations in the fight against Boko Haram insurgency across the state and North-East zone.

The terrorist group has stepped up its attacks since Buhari, a former army general, came to power on May 29.

The United Nations (UN) has announced that it will sponsor 500 victims of Boko Haram violence from Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states to acquire vocational skills.

Since May, the militants have stepped up their campaign with a wave of raids, bombings and suicide attacks which have left more than 1,000 people dead in Nigeria alone, according to an AFP count.

Boko Haram, which is seeking to carve out a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria, has killed some 15,000 people since 2009. Soldiers from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger have been battling the terrorists in recent months.

The UN official noted the intervention was necessitated by the negative effects of the activities of Boko Haram insurgency on the people of the North East.

Chadian leader Idriss Deby declared on August 12 that efforts to combat Boko Haram had succeeded in “decapitating” the group and would be wrapped up “by the end of the year”.