Boko Haram militants kill 60 in attack in Nigeria’s north-east

Boko Haram militants killed dozens of people in a night-time assault on a village in north-eastern Nigeria that is home to residents who had recently returned from a camp for internally displaced persons, authorities said.

At least 60 people were killed in the attack on Darul Jamal in the Bama local government area late on Friday, a resident of the village, Mohammed Babagana, told The Associated Press (AP).

Borno state governor Babagana Zulum, who visited the community late on Saturday evening, confirmed to reporters that more than 60 had died in the attack.

“We sympathise with the people and have pleaded with them not to abandon their homes as we have made arrangements to improve the security and provide food and other lifesaving items that they have lost,” Mr Zulum said.

The chairman of Bama’s local government, Modu Gujja, said more than a dozen houses were burnt and more than 100 people were forced to flee.

Taiwo Adebayo, a researcher specialising in Boko Haram at the Institute for Security Studies, spoke to residents of Darual Jamal and said the killings on Friday night were carried out by a faction of Boko Haram known as Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad.

Boko Haram, Nigeria’s homegrown jihadis, took up arms in 2009 to fight western education and impose their radical version of Islamic law.

The conflict has spilled into Nigeria’s northern neighbours, including Niger, and resulted in the death of around 35,000 civilians and the displacement of more than two million others, according to the United Nations.

Boko Haram split into two factions after the death of the group’s long-time leader, Abubakar Shekau, in 2021.

One faction is backed by the so-called Islamic State group and is known as the Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP. It has become notorious for targeting military positions.

The other faction, Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, or JAS, has increasingly resorted to attacking civilians and perceived collaborators and thrives on robberies and abductions for ransom.

“When JAS attacks and kills a lot of people like they did last night in Bama, it’s usually that they suspect the victims of spying for the rival ISWAP or the military,” Mr Adebayo told the AP.

The Bama local government area was the target of several Boko Haram attacks a decade ago, forcing many residents to flee.

Following military operations in the area in recent years, authorities had resettled displaced people in several communities, most recently the village of Darul Jamal in July.

Kaana Ali, a Darul Jamal resident, said he had decided to leave the community for good after he confirmed the deaths of close family friends in the attack on Friday.

“But the governor is still begging us to stay back as more protection would be provided to secure our community,” he said.