At least 15 people have been reportedly killed when gunmen suspected to be members of the dreaded Islamist sect, Boko Haram attacked two villages in Borno State.
The tragic attacks which reportedly happened Thursday threw other villages into panic.
It was also gathered that three persons were drowned in a river while fleeing from the insurgents.
The attack came four days after a similar one on two other neighbouring villages — Yawuma-ango and Jabulam — in which gunmen shot dead five people, a former deputy local government council chairman in the district, Talba Gashigar, said.
He said most residents of Gashigar village had fled to Niger after the marauders arrived in a convoy of three vehicles and “countless motorcycles” and destroyed dozens of homes and shops.
“We all had to flee. Men, women and children had to cross over to neighbouring Niger for our dear lives,” he added.
Police authorities in Maiduguri, the state capital, confirmed the Gashigar village attack but gave no details.
State police spokesman, Gideon Jibrin, however denied the allegation by Gashigar that security men were not present in the area.
It will be recalled that 19 people were killed in a car bomb attack on a busy market in Maiduguri last Tuesday. The attack was said to have been conducted by the Islamists.
