Jihadists have killed at least 15 people in New Year’s Day attacks on two villages near the town of Chibok in northeast Nigeria’s Borno State, three residents told AFP on Wednesday.
Jihadist fighters in trucks fitted with machine guns and on motorcycles stormed into Gatamarwa and Tsiha villages on Monday, killing residents and burning homes after looting food supplies, the residents said.
“The death toll from the attacks on the two villages stands at 15,” Manasseh Allen, head of the Chibok Area Development Association (CADA), told AFP.
It was not clear which group was behind the attacks, but both Boko Haram and rival Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) carry out raids in the area.
The attackers, dressed as soldiers, drove into Gatamarwa, opening fire on residents, including a group of mourners returning from a funeral, Allen said.
“They (jihadists) killed 12 people in Gatamarwa and three others in Tsiha,” said Allen.
Two other residents gave similar accounts.
“Apart from the killings, the insurgents carted away food supplies and set fire to homes in the two villages,” said Ayuba Alamson, a Chibok community leader, who gave the same toll.
The militants kidnapped a young woman in the attack on Tsiha, another resident Samson Bulus said, also giving the same toll.
Borno State police spokesman Nahum Daso confirmed the attack but declined to provide details or a toll.
Chibok hit global headlines in 2014 when Boko Haram jihadists abducted more than 200 schoolgirls from their boarding school.
Troops were stationed in Chibok after the mass kidnapping, but deadly Boko Haram raids continued in the area.
ISWAP, which split from Boko Haram in 2016, seized Sambisa forest from its rivals in 2021 and continues to attack villages on the fringes of the forest.
More than 40,000 people have been killed and around two million displaced from their homes in 14 years of conflict.
The violence spilled into neighboring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the jihadist groups.