Currently ranked fourth in the 2014 Global Terrorism Index, Nigeria is suffering another wave of attacks in the northeast by the terrorist group Boko Haram.
On Nov. 20, Boko Haram fighters killed 48 fish sellers in an attack near the Chadian border. Without using guns, the terrorists slit the throats of some of their victims, and tied others up and drowned them. The massacre took place near the village of Doron Baga in Borno state, after the terrorists blocked the vendors’ path as they headed to a fish market in Chad. The Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), comprised of troops from Chad, Niger, and Nigeria, maintains its base nine miles away in Doron Baga. The head of the local fish traders association said that “[t]he attackers killed their victims silently without the use of the gun to avoid attracting attention from the multi-national troops.”
Boko Haram is also suspected of killing 45 people the day before, in an attack on the village of Azaya Kura in Borno. As in the Nov. 20 attack, the attackers had tied the victims’ hands tied behind their backs and cut their throats. The attackers, who had arrived in several trucks, also destroyed houses and stole food and livestock.
Reports of recent attacks have been slow to reach news outlets since Boko Haram destroyed mobile phone towers during earlier attacks in the neighborhood. In August, Boko Haram hit Doron Baga and nearby fishing villages, kidnapping around 100 men and boys and killing 28 others. Chadian troops rescued 85 hostages the following week.
And today suspected Boko Haram fighters attacked Damasak, another town in Borno, which lies near the border with Niger. In an assault that reportedly lasted for hours, gunmen torched houses and opened fire on residents. It is not clear how many people were killed. One resident noted that some 15 people had drowned while trying to swim across a river to safety.
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1 Comment
I didn’t see it mentioned in the article, but it’s worth noting that the reason for the attacks is to retaliate against civilian cooperation with the Nigerian Army in those locations. BH’s actions this past week acknowledge that the vigilante groups being formed (and the prospects of further successful civil-military partnership) are seen as major threat to their dominance in Borno.