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At least 110 people were killed in cold blood in Nigeria while working in their fields, according to a UN report, in the bloodiest attack on civilians this year in the north-west of the country. 43 victims were found with their necks cut, Agerpres informs.
“In the early afternoon, gunmen arrived on motorcycles and brutally assaulted men and women working in the Koshobe fields,” said United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria Edward Kallon.
“At least 110 civilians were cruelly killed and many more injured in the attack,” said Kallon, who said it was “the most violent attack on innocent civilians this year.”
The massacre occurred on local election day in Nigeria’s Borno state, the first since the start of the Boko Haram uprising in 2009. Since then, more than 36,000 people have been killed and more than two million have been forced to leave their homes.
“It is undoubtedly the signature of Boko Haram, which operates in the region and frequently attacks farmers,” said the representative of a pro-government self-defense group, who indicated that 43 victims had their necks cut.
The first 43 victims were buried on Sunday in the nearby city of Zabarmari, in the presence of the governor of the state of Borno, Babaganan Umara Zulum, while the search for other victims continued in these marshy and difficult to access waters.
The UN statement did not mention the jihadist group Boko Haram, nor the group of the dissident faction of the Islamic State in West Africa (Iswap), which has increased its violence in the region and controls part of Nigerian territory.
The attack took place in a paddy field located less than 10 km from Maiduguri, the capital of the state of Borno, the epicenter of the Islamist revolt. Last month, 22 farmers had already been killed in their fields, not far from this city.
Farmers, fishermen and woodcutters are regularly targeted by jihadists who accuse them of transmitting information to the army or of not paying the jihadist “tax”, mandatory for carrying out economic activity in some areas of Borno.
Publisher: ML
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