₦airaland Forum

Brutal weekend attacks on three villages by Boko Haram Islamists in the restive northeast of Nigeria have left 30 dead and 20 others wounded, a vigilante told AFP.

“Most of the victims were slaughtered and most of the wounded (had suffered) machete cuts,” Mustapha Karimbe, a civilian helping the Nigerian military fight Boko Haram, said of Saturday’s attacks in the villages of Warwara, Mangari and Bura-Shika in Borno state.

News of the attacks has been slow to emerge because telecom masts in the area have been destroyed in previous Boko Haram raids, hindering communication.

The Islamists invaded the villages, hacking and slaughtering their victims before setting the villages on fire.

The villages are near Buratai, the hometown of Nigeria’s highest military chief Tukur Yusuf Buratai.

‎Warwara, where 20 people were killed, was the worst affected, said Musa Suleiman, another vigilante.

The attackers killed six people in Bura-Shika and another four in Mangari, he said.

The latest deaths take the number of people killed in Nigeria since President Muhammadu Buhari took office in May to more than 1,530, according to an AFP tally.

Residents of the villages fled to Biu, 30 kilometres (19 miles) away.

Buratai and nearby settlements have recently been the targets of deadly raids by Boko Haram, which have left scores dead and entire villages looted and burnt down.

Residents believe the attacks are in response to the pressure that the army chief is exerting on Boko Haram in counter-insurgency military operations.

On Thursday Boko Haram insurgents killed 14 people — decapitating some of them — when they raided Kamuya village, the hometown of the army chief’s mother, and burnt it down.

Nigeria’s government has vowed to end the Boko Haram insurgency by this month but the deadline looks likely to be missed as attacks persist.

The Islamists’ grip on the region has suffered as a result of offensives launched by local armies, leading to raids like Saturday’s becoming rarer.

There has, however, been a spike in suicide attacks in Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

At least 17,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in 2009.

A new 8,700-strong Multi-national Joint Task Force (MNJTF) comprising troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin was supposed to have been deployed in late July.

But the African Union-backed force has yet to start operations, with no reason given for the lengthening delay and questions over whether the countries have the resources to commit.

Heavy fighting broke out late Saturday night into the early hours of Sunday, between men of the Nigerian army and members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria also known as Shiite, following the surrounding of the house of leader of the movement, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, by troops.

Following what the Nigeria army described as an assassination attempt on the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Tukur Burutai at about noon on Saturday, when his convoy was attacked by the Shiite members, the troops returned to El-Zakzaky’s residence in Gyallesu area of Zaria, at about 11pm.

It was gathered that moves by the troops to arrest the leader of the movement were resisted by his members.

Residents said heavy gunfire accompanied with chants by members of the movement were heard in the area for over two hours.
There were unconfirmed casualties in the late night attack.

A resident who confirmed the development over the phone said sounds of gunshots were heard around Hussainiyya area of Zaria around midnight yesterday.

Another resident also said Shiite members were seen carrying out solidarity protests around Zango road in Kaduna.

Trouble started about noon on Saturday after several persons were reported killed by soldiers in the clash which occurred at the headquarters of the movement in Zaria, Kaduna State.

Yesterday, members of the Islamic movement were said to have attacked the soldiers attached to the convoy of Burutai, who was in Zaria for a passing out parade ceremony at the Nigeria Army Depot.
Though there were conflicting reports as to what caused the clash, a witness said that the passing out parade coincided with the same date members of the Shiite movement were to hold the annual Maulud at Hussaimiyya in Zaria and changing of their flag.

“As early as 12pm, the members of Shiite barricaded the road where the COAS was to pass to the depot.

“The security details attached to the Chief of Army staff came down from the vehicle to plead with the congregation. From the distance, we could hear gunshots,” the witness said.

The source said following the gunshots, the soldiers made way for the COAS’ convoy to pass.
He said immediately the COAS left, some soldiers in trucks came to the scene and that was when pandemonium broke out, after which several persons were left dead.

Explaining what happened, the Army spokesman, Colonel SK Usman, disclosed that the COAS had gone to the Emir’s palace to pay homage on the royal father and as the convoy was moving towards to military depot, the COAS vehicle was attacked by members of Shiite.

“In fact the COAS escaped an assassination attempt. We were in Zaria to attend the passing out parade and to pay homage on the Emir of Zazzau and some members of Shiite blocked the road and attacked the convoy.

“Luckily enough, the Army Chief escaped unhurt. But we have taken the matter to the appropriate authorities for necessary legal action because we cannot allow such unlawful acts to continue,” he stated.

But, the leader of the movement, Zakzaky, denied the claim, saying “it was soldiers who opened fire on his members for no just cause.”

“They lied to have said we attacked them, nobody attacked them, they were the ones that first stormed our headquarters with truck full of soldiers, sealed off our headquarters on a day we were supposed to change our flag and started shooting and killing our people.”

This is even as he called for calm among members of the movement.

He said that based on what transpired, the movement was of the belief that the military had pre-planned the attack on its members and had acted according to their “mischievous script. They came with their cameramen, videotaping the whole incidence while it lasted.

“We are, however surprised that, spokesman of the military Colonel Kuka Sheka Shamelessly came out in the media and issued a press statement to say, that it was an assassination attempt on the Chief of Army Staff on the order of the Movement’s leader. Why was it that there were no casualties on the side of the military, if it were to be an assassination attempt by Kukasheka?”

He reiterated that what happened was not a clash, but a continuation of acts of terrorism by the Nigerian military on the movement, as was the case in the past.

“We are not surprised by this action, as there were reports spread by the same military the night before that the Shi’ites were to avenge their dead by hired thugs on Friday in Gabari, a village in Zaria. The same military also spread rumours that the Shi’ites had killed soldiers, all in an attempt to justify today’s dastardly act.

“Kukasheka should know that, once bitten, twice shy. The 2014 massacre of 34 members of the Islamic Movement, including 3 of Sheikh Zakzaky’s children by the military; the attempt on Sheikh Zakzaky’s convoy by the same military are still on our minds,” he added.