After Sunday's terrorist attack on the village of Mafa in northeastern Nigeria, the death toll rose to 81, the AFP news agency reported on Tuesday, citing local authorities. The local population was attacked by the fundamentalist Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
The attack took place Sunday afternoon in Yobe, one of three states in the north of the country where Boko Haram has been operating for 15 years. The terrorists rode into the village on motorcycles and opened fire on residents at the market, then set their homes on fire.
“About 150 Boko Haram terrorists armed with rifles and grenades rode on more than 50 motorbikes and attacked the town of Mafa at around 4pm on Sunday,” state police spokesman Dungus Abdulkarim told AFP.
Boko Haram terrorizes local population
Terrorists have been carrying out robberies and pogroms against the local population, as a result of which thousands of Nigerians have been killed and over two million have been forced to leave their homes over the past dozen or so years.
Residents of the attacked village believe the final death toll could be much higher as many people who fled into the bush are still missing, Reuters reported.
Attack of Islamist militant group Boko Haram in NigeriaReuters
“The terrorists have killed many people, but we are not sure about the final number of victims yet,” Abdulkarim said, adding that the attack was in retaliation for the alleged killing of two Boko Haram members by local residents.
One of Reuters' interlocutors admitted that, in his opinion, the number of victims would be over a hundred.
Boko Haram is an Islamic fundamentalist militant group formed in 2002 in northeastern Nigeria by Muhammed Yusuf. Since 2009, it has been carrying out acts of terror, mainly targeting the Christian population, as well as kidnappings for ransom.
Main image source: Reuters