At least 29 farmers were killed in cold blood when Boko Haram insurgents attacked two Borno communities on Monday, sources have said.
The incidents occurred on the day the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, paid a courtesy visit on the Borno State governor, Babagana Umara.
During the visit, he told the governor that the military has developed better strategies that had been yielding positive results ‘in the past three weeks’.
The governor, had, amongst other concerns raised at the meeting, pleaded with military to up their game in order to help farmers gain unfettered access to their farmlands for the purpose of food production. which he said has become a major challenge for the state.
Despite all assurances of an improved counterinsurgency strategy, the insurgents had, on Monday, attacked two agrarian communities of Ngangam in Mobbar local government and another village in Guzamala local government where they killed a total of 29 persons.
According to a military source who craved anonymity in this report because he is not permitted to speak to journalists, the Boko Haram fighters attacked Ngamgam a border settlement about 20km away from Damasak the headquarters of Mobbar local government area, where they killed 50 farmers.
Mobbar is Borno’s closest local government to Niger Republic.
The security source, who shared the information with journalists, said, “We have an information that reveals that on 25 June, 2019, suspected members of the deadly terrorist group attacked Ngamgam settlement about 50 kilometres east of Damasak and killed 20 farmers in their farms.”
He said most of the villagers who survived the attack fled their homes to Damasak town.
The security personnel said the second attack, which claimed nine lives, occurred around Gudumbali in Guzamala local government area.
Gudumbali is about 79 kilometres away from Damasak town.
He said the gunmen, who attacked the village, carted away foodstuff, after killing nine persons.
The military has not responded to our reporter’s inquiries about the attacks.
The chief of army staff said recently that journalists may not be getting such responses from them as expected because they do not tend to believe in the military’s side of the story.
“We don’t give out information for the sake of it or because somebody is interested,” said the army chief.
“Military activities and even issues concerning its personnel are all classified, which means they are not for public consumption.”
He said the reverse can only happen if doing so is absolutely necessary, for the purpose of winning confidence as well as promoting the army’s efforts in securing the nation.
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