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The bloodshed focused on the village of Koshobe near the Borno state capital Maiduguri, and the assailants attacked agricultural workers in the rice fields.
Mourners attend the funeral of agricultural workers in Zabarmari, about 20 km from Maiduguri, Nigeria, on November 29, 2020 after they were killed by Boko Haram fighters in rice fields near Koshobe village on 28 November 2020. Image: AFP.
MAIDUGURI – A weekend attack on farm workers in northeastern Nigeria attributed to the jihadist group Boko Haram killed at least 110 people, the country’s UN humanitarian coordinator said on Sunday.
“At least 110 civilians were mercilessly killed and many others injured in this attack,” Edward Kallon said in a statement, after initial tolls indicated 43 and then at least 70 killed in Saturday’s massacre by suspected Boko Haram fighters. .
“The incident is the most violent direct attack on innocent civilians this year,” Kallon said, blaming “non-state armed groups” without naming Boko Haram.
“I ask that the perpetrators of this heinous and senseless act be brought to justice,” he added.
The bloodshed focused on the town of Koshobe, near the Borno state capital Maiduguri, with assailants targeting agricultural workers in rice fields, with a pro-government anti-Jihadist militia saying the assailants tied up the workers and cut them off. throat.
Kallon said the assailants – “gunmen on motorcycles” – also targeted other communities in the area.
Borno Governor Babaganan Umara Zulum attended the burial in nearby Zabarmari village on Sunday of 43 bodies recovered on Saturday, saying the death toll could rise after search operations resume.
Among the victims were dozens of workers from Sokoto state in northwestern Nigeria, some 1,000 kilometers away, who had traveled northeast to find work, he said.
Six were injured in the attack and eight were still missing as of Saturday.
Kallon, citing “reports that several women may have been abducted,” called for her immediate release.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari condemned Saturday’s attack, saying: “The whole country has been wounded by these senseless killings.”
LOCAL ELECTIONS
The attack took place as voters went to the polls in long-delayed local elections in Borno state.
The elections had been repeatedly postponed due to increased attacks by Boko Haram and a rival dissident faction, the Islamic State-affiliated West African province of the Islamic State (ISWAP).
The two groups have been accused of increasing attacks on loggers, farmers and fishermen whom they accuse of spying for the army and pro-government militia.
Last month, Boko Haram militants massacred 22 farmers working in their irrigated fields near Maiduguri in two separate attacks.
At least 36,000 people have died in the jihadist conflict, which has forced some two million people to flee their homes since 2009.
The violence has also spread to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the militants.
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