A restive town in Borno State, Nigeria has been thrown into deep mourning after no fewer than 13 farmers were gruesomely murdered by Boko Haram, the second such incident in three years.
According to survivors who witnessed the unfortunate killings, the 13 farmers were beheaded on their farmlands in Mafa Local Government in the central part of Borno on yesterday evening.
They were subsequently buried at Zabarmari, a farming community some 25 kilometres to Maiduguri, the state capital.
Residents said the farmers, who hailed from neighbouring villages of Koshebe and Karkut, were thrashing grains on the farm when Boko Haram swooped on them.
“They came in groups from different directions and cornered people on the farm, though some escaped. They started beheading the people they caught,” Abubakar Yusuf, a farmer and survivor told reporters.
He said the attack occurred at about 5pm on Sunday, adding that some were also missing during the incident.
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‘We don’t know if some of those missing have been kidnapped by Boko Haram or are in the bush trying to locate their way home. We have buried 13 today (Monday),’ said Ahmad Khali, a Zabarmari resident.
A CJTF told the reporter on condition of anonymity the insurgents may have parked their motorcycles somewhere in the bush to avoid security and sneak into the farmland.
Africa Today News, New York reports that in another attack in Bama Local Government also, yesterday Boko Haram killed a farm owner and kidnapped four workers on the farm, residents said. The attack on Zabarmari farmers came barely three years after the community experienced a similar incident.
Boko Haram had beheaded over 100 farmers from Zabarmari on farmlands in November 2020. The incident attracted national outrage and sympathy from many government officials, including a Federal Government delegation and UN humanitarian office in Nigeria.