LAGOS
At least 30 people have been killed when Boko Haram militants fleeing a military raid attacked Gaya village in Nigeria's northeastern Adamawa State, according to locals who claimed to have escaped the violence.
"More than 100 militants riding on motorbikes and vehicles attacked our village yesterday morning and unleashed terror which claimed 30 lives," Hassan Bidi, a local Gaya resident, told The Anadolu Agency on Friday.
Bidi said the militants did not occupy the village as they fled after burning some houses along with the village's only primary school.
Lulu Adire, another local resident, said that the insurgents were among those "running away from the nearby Sambisa forest following a military operation there."
"They merely attacked our village as a way of inflicting collateral damage on the harmless people. We heard that hundreds of them [Boko Haram militants] had been bombed in the forest and others are now running," Adire told AA.
He said a military patrol came later to the village after the militants fled the place.
The Nigerian military said Thursday that it is pursuing a multi-prong operating against the militant hideouts in the region.
Nigeria appeared to have changed its defensive tactics against the Boko Haram militants, with reports of air raids and troops taking the battle to the Boko Haram hideouts across the restive northeastern area.
On Thursday, the military said several militants were killed while many others are running for cover as army bombed their location in Sambisa forest, their major hideout in Adamawa.
On Wednesday, defense spokesman said more than 300 militants had been killed when troops stormed Monguno and other areas they had earlier occupied. At least 11 northeastern towns were liberated following the raids, the army said.
Since 2009, Nigeria has battled a fierce Boko Haram insurgency that has ravaged the country's volatile northeast and left thousands dead.
A seemingly emboldened Boko Haram recently stepped up its militant activity, seizing several areas of Nigeria's Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, where it has declared a self-styled "Islamic caliphate."
