Boko Haram group was alleged to
have burnt some children to death when the militants overran Dalori, a village
four kilometres outside Maiduguri, where about 80 residents of the community
were killed on Saturday night.
The Area Coordinator of the
National Emergency Management Agency in Borno State, Mohammed Kanar, said 86
bodies were picked up in the village on Sunday.
Hospital sources added that no
fewer than 70 persons were receiving treatment in hospitals around the area.
A resident who managed to escape
the attack, claimed that screams of children could be heard from burning houses
as the embattled villagers ran in confusion to exit the village as the
destruction raged.
Also, a survivor, who said he hid
on a tree, stated that he watched Boko Haram extremists firebomb huts and heard
the screams of children burning to death, AP reports.
On Sunday, while some residents
had managed to return to their houses which had been razed, they discovered that
some burnt bodies and others, riddled with bullets, littered the streets and
some burnt houses in the town.
One of those who had returned to
the village on Sunday said that insurgents including suicide bombers attacked
the town, which also spilled over to the Internally Displaced Persons’ camps
around the village.
Speaking on condition of
anonymity, he added that the suicide bombers mingled with fleeing villagers and
detonated the explosives on them at the neighbouring Gamori village, killing
several of the villagers.
The villagers told newsmen on
Sunday that troops did not arrive in time to stop the rampaging sect fighters
from unleashing maximum havoc on the community.
Military authorities confirmed
that one of the places targeted by the insurgents was the Dalori Internally
Displaced Persons’ camp housing over 15,000 people, who are mostly women and
children from Bama.
A member of the youth vigilance
group in the town, who spoke on condition of anonymity on through phone call on
Sunday, said not less than 65 persons were killed with over 100 others injured
in the attack on Dalori.
One of the residents of the
community, who fled to Maiduguri, Yusuf Ibrahim, said that the attack on the
village started around 6.50pm and lasted for hours.
He lamented that the insurgents,
who operated undeterred, stormed the village in Hilux vans and motorcycles
dressed in army camouflage and set the houses in the village ablaze.
He said livestock were not spared
as the insurgents set them on fire but looted foodstuffs.
A rescue worker, who participated
in the evacuation of the victims, said 50 corpses were taken to the Borno State
Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri and 15 others corpses deposited at the
University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.
Narrating his ordeal, a resident
of the village, Mallam Abba Dalori, said, “We were helpless as no one came to
our aid when the insurgents struck on Saturday night. I am still mourning as I
lost 11 persons in the siege. At present, I am still looking for five of my
children, who went missing during the attack.”
Another resident of Dalori, Imam
Ibrahim, who could not hold back his tears as he spoke to one of our
correspondents, said the insurgents “dressed like military personnel and opened
fire on everybody.’’
He added, ‘‘All our wives and
children were brutally killed; our livestock were equally consumed in a great
inferno that engulfed the village.”
A statement, the spokesman for
the counter-insurgency operation in the North-East, Operation Lafiya Dole, Col.
Mustapha Anka, while confirming the attack, however, failed to give the
casualty figure.
The statement added, “In their
desperate efforts for attacks on strong, determined and committed members of
the Civilian Joint Task Force and innocent citizens yesterday (Saturday), 30
January, 2016, Boko Haram terrorists (insurgents) launched an attack on Dalori
through Yale from (rear of Dalori village).
“An eyewitness said that the insurgents
who came in two Golf cars, motorcycles, started opening fire and burning
houses. Their motive was to cause rancour and penetrate the crowd with suicide
bombers.
“Similarly, while people were
running for their dear lives to Gomari Kerkeri village, three female suicide
bombers attempted to make their way into the crowd but were intercepted and
subsequently got blown off.
“During the incident, lives were
lost while some people sustained injuries. The insurgents also attempted to
penetrate Dalori IDP camp, but the attempt was resisted by troops, which
resulted into the detonation of IEDs by suicide bombers.”
Anka added that the Theatre
Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj. Gen. Hassan Umaru, had sent a
condolence message to the District Head of Dalori, Alhaji Lawal Bashir, and the
residents over the unfortunate incident.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu
Buhari on Sunday said having lost the war to the nation’s armed forces,
insurgents were desperately seeking ways of returning to wreak havoc on the
society.
Buhari therefore called on all
Nigerians, especially those who resided in areas previously ravaged by
terrorists, to be more vigilant and ready to work with security operatives in
ending the war against insurgency.
This was contained in a statement
by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, on
Sunday.
Buhari said this while reacting
to the spate of suicide bombings in Chibok market, Dolari Internally Displaced
Persons’ camp in Borno State and the Gombi market in Adamawa State.
He stated that the insurgents’
gradual return was meant to embarrass his government, pointing out that that
was why they chose isolated communities and markets as their targets.
Buhari said the insurgents had
suffered immensely from the sustained bombardments of their camps and hideouts
by the Nigerian military and had resorted to using desperate measures to gain
cheap media attention.
The President added, “Having lost
the war, they (the insurgents) are seeking ways and means to gradually find
their way back into society.
“They are not returning to
contribute but to cause more havoc. They are so desperate to embarrass the
government and the people that they have no qualms attacking isolated
communities and markets.”
Buhari noted that the materials
for the Improvised Explosive Devices were locally sourced by the insurgents.
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