Boko Haram militants kill 15 near Chibok

Boko Haram militants shot dead at least 15 people in Kautikari, a farming community near Chibok, in Borno State, Tuesday, security sources said.

The attack came after some militants died in another community Biu, after their bomb exploded mistakenly.

But in a fate twist, just as the residents of Biu were celebrating what most of them tagged as divine firewall against the terrorists, the people of Kautikari witnessed a deadly attack by another group of terrorists who shot about 15 persons, injured several others and burnt at least 25 houses, a local vigilante official said.

Kautikari a boundary with Chibok, the community were over 200 school girls were kidnapped in April 2014.

The village also suffered a deadly attack by Boko Haram terrorists on June 29, 2014, when terrorists crept on Christian worshippers during church services and killed at least 30 people, injured several others and burnt down dozen of churches there.

Muhammed Gava, an official of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria in Maiduguri, confirmed to reporters in Maiduguri that Kautikari village was attacked.

He said “15 persons in the village were killed while many got displaced as a result of the attack. 25 houses were also torched according to the reports we received from our Vigilante colleagues”.

The bomb explosion in Biu killed nine Boko Haram members.

Seemingly frustrated at this, the terrorists vented their anger on a nearby isolated village and killed 15 residents, security sources and witnesses have said.

A top security official in Borno State, who would rather remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak to the press, told PREMIUM TIMES that a major attack on Biu town, 185km south of Maiduguri, was naturally averted when an enemy bomb accidentally exploded.

He said the bomb, besides killing nine terrorists, injured several others.

“We’ve gotten the information that while our soldiers in Biu were on alert waiting to tackle the Boko Haram insurgents planning to attack Biu, a deadly IED they were bringing for the attack on Monday evening suddenly detonated and killed nine of them and injured several others who scampered into the bushes and abandoned the evil mission,” said the source.

The officer said the mangled bodies of the Boko Haram insurgents killed by their own bomb were found in the bush near Biu.