Dozens killed in village attack in NE Nigeria: many victims burned alive, suicide bomber targets survivors
An attack over the weekend in northeastern Nigeria widely attributed to the Islamist sect Boko Haram left scores of people dead. Many of them, including children, were locked up in their homes and burned alive. Sam Olukoya reports from Lagos.
The weekend attack by suspected members of Boko Haram occurred in Dalori, a village on the outskirts of Some of the dead were killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives in the midst of a group of people who converged under a tree after escaping the attack on the village. in Nigeria’s Borno State. Maiduguri has been a regional magnet for rural populations displaced by Boko Haram violence. Borno State Commissioner for Health, Haruna Mshelia, said security agents and volunteers have recovered 85 bodies from the scene of the attack, many of them badly burned. More than a hundred and thirty other people were injured.
Some of the dead were killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives in the midst of a group of people who converged under a tree after escaping the attack on the village.
The attack highlights the insecurity in North Eastern Nigeria despite claims by the Nigerian military that it has curtailed the Boko Haram insurgency. It is the third deadly attack in northeastern Nigeria in less than a week in which suicide bombers attacked two other towns killing more than 20 people.
Boko Haram militants seeking to impose strict Islamic rule have been carrying out vicious attacks in parts of northern Nigeria for the last six years.
Since May last year, a renewed offensive by the Nigerian military has led to the recovery of vast territories from the militants, but the group is still able to carry out suicide bombings in addition to hit and run attacks which often result in high death tolls.
