The police confirmed the attack but could not provide details.
Jakana Village in Kaga Local Government Area of Borno State was on Monday night
attacked by gunmen believed to be members of the Boko Haram.
Jakana is 36km away from Maiduguri, the state capital, and about 20km from
Mainok, the village where 39 people were massacred by the Boko Haram on
Saturday.
Though details of the Monday night attack that lasted till around 3 a.m. are
still sketchy for now, some of the villagers who were able to escape the attack
said many may have been affected by the incident.
We gathered that villagers from a neighbouring village of Auno had to flee
Njimtilo, another village outside Maiduguri, upon seeing the skies being
lighted by burning fire from the direction of the attacked village.
”We spent the nIght in Njimtilo village after running from our own village,
Auno”, said an embattled villager, Bashir Adam.
He added that “even in Njimtilo we could still hear the sounds of shooting in
Jakana. We hope our brethren there will survive this calamity that has befallen
us”.
The Borno Police Public Relations Officer, Gideon Jubrin, confirmed the
incident to journalists but said there were no details yet.
The Monday night attack in Jakana occurs about 24 hours after at least 32
people were killed by the Boko Haram in Mafa Village.
Mafa Village was also set ablaze by the terrorists in an attack that residents
said lasted about 5 hours.
We gathered that the villagers in Mafa had been forewarned of the attack and
many of them fled their homes about a week ago.
The warnings were allegedly handed down by Boko Haram members via leaflets
dropped around the village.
According to the Senator representing Borno Central, Ahmed Zannah, the gunmen
not only massacred the hapless villagers, but also razed down the entire
village.
Mr. Zannah told journalists on Monday that two police officers died in a bomb
explosion targeted at an Armoured Personnel Carrier while they were trying to
evacuate injured victims.
“I have officially received a detailed report from my constituents in Mafa
that 29 people among which was a woman died during the attack. Two policemen
also died this morning as they went to evacuate injured people,” the senator
said on Monday.
A resident of Mafa, Modu Yuraim, who survived the attack, told journalists in a
telephone interview that “We have performed the burial of 32 persons, among
them was a woman”.
Mr. Yuraim said the attackers came in various
vehicles at about 8 p.m. on Sunday night and began to shoot sporadically. He
said most of the houses, which were of thatched roofs, caught fire.
“They have set on fire the entire village, sparing nothing. All houses, all
shops and government buildings were razed down completely; we have been
devastated beyond what one can describe,” he said.
