Saturday, 11 June 2016

Boko Haram kills four women in Borno

This file photo taken on February 06, 2016 at Mairi village outskirts of Maiduguri capital of northeast Borno State, shows young girls fleeing from Boko Haram Islamists walking past burnt livestock. With the Islamists now on the run after a sustained military counter-offensive over the last year, business leaders believe trade should be at the forefront of the region's revival. Fears of raids or the aftermath of deadly attacks have left towns and villages deserted, forcing many in the largely agricultural region into camps for the internally displaced or host communities. / AFP / STRINGER

Boko Haram has killed four women in a remote village in Nigeria’s northeast in the latest attack by the Islamist group, local vigilantes assisting the military said on Saturday.

Fourteen Boko Haram gunmen on seven motorcycles stormed Mairari village, 80 kilometres from Maiduguri, the state capital late Friday and picked four women from their homes and slit their throats, they said.



The women were aged between 27 and 45.

“They went into four homes while residents were breaking their fast around 7:00 pm, brought out the four women and slaughtered them,” Babakura Kolo, a vigilante in Maiduguri told AFP.

“We believe the killings were targeted, the gunmen were from all indications after the husbands of the women,” he said.

“They killed the women when they didn’t find their husbands”.

Another vigilante, Musa Ari gave a similar account.

“The general feeling is that the women’s husbands either refused to accept Boko Haram’s invitation to join their ranks or the group suspects them of passing information about them to the authorities,” Ari told AFP.

Boko Haram has been accused of forcing residents to join its fighters or get killed.

The Islamist group has abducted thousands of people, including women and children who it used as conscripts, suicide bombers and sex slaves.

Boko Haram, which seeks a hardline Islamic legal system in northern Nigeria, has killed more than 20,000 people and displaced some 2.6 million since 2009.

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