Boko Haram insurgents raided a village in Borno State near the border with Niger, on Monday, August 17, killing seven people.
Vanguard reports that dozens of gunmen stormed Awonori, a farming and herding village near Damasak, looted food supplies and carted away livestock.
Speaking with reporters, Muhammadu Modu Wan-Wan, the head of the Damasak fishermen’s union, said: “They killed seven people, looted grains and took away all the livestocks in the village before fleeing into the bush.
“The gunmen who came in vans and on motorcycles around 7:00 am (06:00 GMT) besieged the village and opened fire on residents as they were having breakfast before moving to their farms.”
Wan-Wan added that local people were forced to flee but they returned after the assailants had left the village.
Abubakar Gamandi, the head of Borno’s fishermen’s union, also confirmed the attack, saying: “I received report from my members in the Damasak area that Boko Haram gunmen attacked Awonori village this morning where they killed seven people and took away food and livestocks”.
It would be recalled that last month residents of Damasak and surrounding villages left their homes and crossed the border into the Niger town of Diffa, fearing attacks of the Boko Haram sect. However, Wan-Wan revealed that many residents have already returned to their farms.
“People have no food to feed their families which is why they take the risk of going back to their villages to work on their farms now that the rainy season has started,” he noted.