At least 16 dead and 35 missing from an attack by Boko Haram in Nigeria

At least 16 dead and 35 missing from an attack by Boko Haram in Nigeria



At least 16 farmers died and 35 others are missing in Nigeria after an attack by alleged members of the jihadist group Boko Haram in the state of Borno (northeast), local media reported today.

The attackers allegedly fired on Tuesday at farmers in three villages near the city of Monguno, a witness told the local newspaper Punch.

It is believed that the victims came from the camp of internally displaced persons from this town, hit by the jihadist insurgency of the last nine years, which already amounts to more than 20,000 deaths and approximately two million displaced persons.

According to witnesses who fled the area to Maiduguri, the capital of the state of Borno and Boko Haram's main field of action, at least 35 people are still missing after the attack.

Although the Nigerian government of President Muhammadu Buhari insists that Boko Haram is weakened and that terrorists have lost territory until they are relegated to border areas, violence against military and civilian targets has grown in recent months.

On the other hand, military on the ground assure that thanks to a better Intelligence Service and a reinforcement in air operations, many of the bases of Boko Haram have been neutralized, besides causing numerous casualties among their ranks.

A joint multinational force composed of soldiers from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad has considerably weakened the Boko Haram insurgency in the country, which is still launching indiscriminate attacks on sensitive areas such as schools, mosques, markets and IDP camps.

The army confirmed on Tuesday the arrest of a 19-year-old suicide bomber before it detonated an explosive device in the city of Maiduguri, while two members of Boko Haram were killed a day earlier.

The northeast of Nigeria has been plunged for years into a state of violence provoked by the actions of Boko Haram, which since 2009 has been fighting to impose an Islamic State in Nigeria, a Muslim majority country in the north and predominantly Christian in the south.

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