Insurgents have slaughtered 23 internally displaced persons – mainly fishermen, scrap metal and firewood collectors – by decapitating them in an attack near Magdala village in the Dikwa Local Government Area of Borno State.
At least eight people are still missing. The killers were thought to be members of the Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’way Wa’l-Jihād (JAS), better known as Boko Haram. However, some reports said the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a splinter group of the JAS, were the perpetrators.
The massacre happened on Monday evening but, because insurgents had bombed communication towers, the news only started to filter out on Tuesday.
The 23 were said to be among a 50-strong group from the village.
HumAngle said the shocked and weeping relatives and well-wishers of the 23 buried their decapitated family members on Wednesday.
The victims had been living in the village since they were displaced from their respective villages five years ago because of relentless attacks by insurgents, which forced them to flee for their lives. Many left with just the clothes on their backs.
The 13-year armed conflict in the Lake Chad Basin region has resulted in the displacement of more than two million people who have been living at various IDP camps in Maiduguri and in the other 26 local government areas in Borno State.
They relied solely on food and aid from local and international humanitarian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) until last year when the Borno State government placed a ban on food assistance to IDPs.
Since then they had resorted to begging, doing menial labour, collecting firewood and scrap metal, and fishing where possible.
Insurgents had planted improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in many of the areas where the IDPs searched for firewood and scrap metal. Many had died after stepping on them.
RNI’s reporter in Dikwa, Rawa Bukar Tela, said the number of people killed in the attack was not known and there could be more than 23 victims.
The military and members of the Civilian Joint Task Force were searching for the known eight missing people.
Bulama Aji, 63, whose son, Kachallah Aji, was among the missing people told RNI that he had lost all hope of seeing his son alive again.
“I don’t think he is alive, but I want to see his body, even if he is not alive. He used to sell firewood and was the breadwinner of the family, providing food for us. He started selling firewood seven months ago. Life without him is going to be very tough for us.”
Aji said security personnel had told the families of the missing men that they would rescue them. “But it has been four days now and they still don’t know their whereabouts.”
Abor Alhaji Modu, who attended the burials, said hunger had forced the men to leave the village and go into the bushes looking for something that they could sell to provide food for their families. He said the government should lift the ban on humanitarian agencies helping to feed them. “If the government does not review the ban, I can assure you many more IDPs will be killed by Boko Haram.”
He said: “IDPs are like everyone else. They have a right to live a good and dignified life. Their main source of livelihood is farming and fishing, but the land given to them to farm is too small. Because of climate change, there is very low rainfall and the prices of farming tools and equipment, such as seeds and fertilizer, have skyrocketed which makes it even more difficult for IDPs to farm.”
AFP reported that there were 24 people missing. It said there were fears that they had been taken hostage by the insurgents.
The news agency quoted a military officer as saying the missing men “could have been shot dead while trying to flee”.
He told AFP that the military had recently intensified ground and air attacks against ISWAP and the JAS, killing “several high-profile commanders”.
He said the killings this week could have been revenge because the insurgents accused scrap metal collectors of passing information on their positions to the military, AFP said.
ZAINAB ALHAJI ALI
