LAGOS
Scores of people were killed and wounded on Wednesday morning when Boko Haram fighters invaded Bama, a town about 130km from Maiduguri, the capital city of Nigeria's insurgency-ridden northeastern state of Borno.
"I lost five people to the attack," Yadomah Aloma, a local resident, told Anadolu Agency in the local Hausa dialect, sobbing profusely.
"I cannot account for my three friends and their family. Many others also died," he added. "Our houses were burnt."
According to Aloma, the militants arrived around 4am in more than 10 Hilux vehicles and did not leave until a few minutes before 9am
"They had a free reign," he said. "It was a siege on the community."
Luba Sa'adallah, a retired military officer and a Bama resident, confirmed the attack.
Asked how people were killed in the attack, Sa'adallah said "nobody would start counting the number of dead people when you have opportunity to flee for your life."
"But I know several people were killed because the attackers were going from house to house," he added.
"At some point, they were using AA-12 shotgun to burn down the buildings and everybody in the building," said the retired military officer.
He insisted that the government needs to do more to get to the roots of the crisis which, he believes, "looks more like some sort of conspiracy."
Asked to explain what he meant by "conspiracy," he said: "When they arrive people were sending distress call to attract the attention of the troops. We discovered that telephone network signals suddenly ceased. This of course calls for worry."
Borno police chief Tanko Lawal could not confirm the attack.
"I am yet to receive any information about this attack, not even from our men in Bama," he told AA.
"We will react as soon as we get any report."
The military has yet to react as well.
Army spokesman in the area, Mohamed Dole, could not be reached for comments until the filing of this report.
Boko Haram, a hitherto peaceful organization that had preached against corruption, suddenly turned violent in 2009 following the murder of group leader Mohamed Yusuf while in police custody.
In the years since, the group has been blamed for thousands of terrorist acts, including attacks on churches and security posts across Nigeria's northern region, especially the three northeastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
Although it claims to want an Islamist government in the region, Nigerian Muslims – most of whom reject Boko Haram as un-Islamic – have also been targeted by the militant group.
By Rafiu Ajakaye
englishnews@aa.com.tr
