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Boko Haram militants killed at least 11 people, burned a church and kidnapped a priest in a Christmas Eve attack in northeast Nigeria, local sources told AFP on Friday.
On Thursday, gunmen on trucks and motorcycles attacked the predominantly Christian village of Bemi in Borno state, where they fired “randomly” and set homes on fire, according to Abwako Kabo, a militia leader there.
Many communities in many parts of Nigeria have resorted to self-protection by armed militia guards working alongside the army.
“The terrorists killed 7 people, burned 10 houses and looted food that would be distributed to the population during the Christmas celebration,” Kabo said.
“Search and rescue volunteers found 4 more bodies in nearby forests,” local leader Ayouba said Friday, adding: “This brings the death toll to 11.”
The death toll could rise further as the villagers fled into the forests and the fate of some of them was still unclear.
The militia leader added that the attackers, who drove their cars and bicycles from their stronghold in the nearby Sambisa forest and looted medical supplies from a hospital before setting it on fire, also burned a church and kidnapped a priest.
The town is located just 20 kilometers from Chibok, where Boko Haram abducted more than 200 schoolchildren six years ago.
In a separate attack on Thursday, gunmen attacked another Christian village in Garcida, in neighboring Adamawa state, looting food and medicine stores before burning houses, residents told France Press, without any injuries.
Earlier this week, the Nigerian Security Service called on Nigerians to “be vigilant and report any suspicious movements.”
In a statement Thursday, President Muhammadu Buhari affirmed his administration’s commitment to confront the Boko Haram insurgency and all other forms of crime.
The 78-year-old president urged citizens to volunteer by providing “intelligence on the activities of armed bandits, insurgents and all other criminal elements within their communities to end this scourge.”
The decade-long conflict in northeast Nigeria has killed 36,000 people and displaced nearly two million from their homes, according to the United Nations.
The violence spread to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting these countries to form a military alliance to fight militant groups.
