At least 80 people have been killed in an attack on a village in northern Nigeria. Militants, believed to belong to a Boko Haram splinter group, attacked Faduma Koloram, in the Gubio district of Borno state, on Tuesday afternoon.
According to Reuters, the militants suspected villagers of sharing information about their whereabouts to security forces. They also killed and stole livestock before razing the village.
State governor Babagana Zulum visited the area on Wednesday and later confirmed the death toll had risen to 81.
“This is barbaric. It is very unfortunate. The only solution to end this massacre is by dislodging the insurgents in the shores of Lake Chad. Doing so will require collaborative regional efforts,” Zulum said, according to Premium Times.
A survivor told the governor that the attackers came around 10am on Tuesday morning in gun trucks and armoured tanks.
“They operated for about six hours and left around 4pm,” he said. “They gathered us and said they wanted to deliver a religious sermon to us.
“They asked us to submit whatever arms we had. Some villagers gave up their Dane guns, bow, and arrows. The insurgents pretended as if they were not there for any violence.
“Suddenly, they started shooting at will. Even children and women were not spared, many were shot at close range. Many started running. In the end, many persons were killed and we have been burying people from 10pm last night to about 6am this morning.
“We have buried 49 corpses here while another 32 corpses were taken away by families from the villages around us. The insurgents abducted seven persons, including our village head. They went away with 400 cattle.”
The attack comes a week after an armed assault on a Christian village in north-west Nigeria left at least 10 dead, including a three-year-old girl.
In March, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja asked Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to address the growing levels of violence against Christians.
“We need to have access to our leaders, president, vice president. We need to work together to eradicate poverty, killings, bad governance and all sorts of challenges facing us as a nation,” the archbishop said.
Picture: An Internally Displaced Persons camp in Borno state, Nigeria (Getty)
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