By Rafiu Ajakaye
LAGOS
At least 21 people were reportedly killed when gunmen believed to be Boko Haram fighters ran into them in Nigeria's northeastern Yobe State over the weekend.
"On Saturday, 21 people, all men, ran into some Boko Haram fighters who killed them after taking away baskets of food and money from them," a top official of Yobe state government told the Anadolu Agency on Monday.
He said the incident happened in Bultaram village in Gujba local government area.
Liman Kyari, an official of the local vigilante group, confirmed the killings.
"It wasn't really an attack. The victims just ran into them while returning from their farms," he told AA by phone from Damaturu, the provincial capital.
"We suspect the killers to be part of the fleeing militants," said Kyari, referring to Boko haram insurgents.
"The army has been notified and we are sure they are going to strengthen security there," he added.
Kyari said that while Gujba town has been liberated from Boko Haram, Nigerian soldiers can't be everywhere.
Army spokesman Col Sani Usman could not be reached for comment on the latest incident.
Nigeria is fighting a six-year Boko Haram insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced over one million people from the country's northeast, where the militants have been the most ruthless.
The Nigerian military recently announced that all territory captured earlier by the insurgents in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states had since been liberated by government troops.
In the face of the government's recent onslaught, the militants are believed to have retreated back into the Sambisa Forest, a vast expanse of difficult terrain in the country's restive northeast that is said to be the radical sect's last stronghold.
Although experts have cautioned against complacency, the military onslaught has significantly weakened Boko Haram whose attacks have waned since early March.
