Bloodbath! Terrorists on the rampage, kill 81 in Borno, 18 in Katsina

Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State has confirmed the killing of 81 persons by Boko Haram terrorists, who invaded Faduma Koloram village, in Gubio Local Government Area (LGA), on Tuesday.
Zulum disclosed this on Wednesday, when he visited the scene of the attack to commiserate with survivors.
He said that 13 persons were injured while fleeing the attack, while seven others sustained various degrees of injury.
The governor further explained that 49 of the deceased had already been buried before his arrival, while 32 bodies of the victims had been taken away by their families.
Zulum recalled that the terrorists, who attacked Gajiram LGA some months ago, were the same ones who carried out the attack; describing it as “very unfortunate”.
The Governor said that the only positive option to end the massacre on the vulnerable communities was to dislodge the terrorists in their strong hold, in the shores of Lake Chad.
“We have been advocating for this for a very long time. The Tumbus and other shores of Lake Chad must be cleared completely, then people will get rest of mind. Anything less than this is a temporary measure.
“That requires a lot of support from the Federal Government such as blocking of the leakage from our neighbouring countries by the Multi National Joint Task Force (MNJTF),” he said.
Zulum said that the state government on its part, would adopt measures to protect the people from further attacks, including merging smaller communities with larger ones, where they could be provided with effective security.
“This village from Gubio town is over 35 kilometers. Due to the nature of the vast land, the insurgents can easily sneak into the community to cause havoc. The military can come here and relocate them, but at the end, they may come back,” he said.
Modu Gana, a survivor, had earlier told the governor that the community was attacked three times by the terrorists within the last one month.
Gana said that the attackers stormed the village in three Hilux vans and motorcycles, telling them that they came to preach the word of God to the people.
“They asked us to remove all our charms, cutlasses, bows and arrows, as well as other spiritual protection for special prayers.
“Immediately we did that, they began shooting at us from different directions,” many people escaped with bullet wounds, while seven others, including our village head, were abducted by the terrorists,” he said.
Gana said that more than 2,400 livestock had been rustled by the terrorists.
A mass burial was conducted for the deceased.
Five of the victims, who were severely injured, were taken to the Maiduguri Specialist Hospital for treatment by the state government.
In Katsina, the Police Command, on Wednesday, said that Monday’s attack by terrorists has led to the death of 18 people in Kadisau village, Faskari Local Government Area of the state.
SP Gambo Isah, the command’s Public Relations Officer, confirmed this while fielding questions from journalists in Katsina.
Isah said that the terrorists numbering over 200 attacked the village on Monday, but their attempt to steal food items and other commodities was resisted by the unarmed villagers.
“Unfortunately, they began shooting them with rifles, killing 14 people on the spot.
“The bandits injured 26 others who were taken to the hospital for medical treatment.
“This morning, I spoke with the Area Commander in Funtua who told me that additional four persons died in the hospital, bringing the number of those who died from the attack to 18,” he said.
Isah said that the police, military and other security agents are doing their best to protect lives and property of the residents, particularly in those frontline local government areas.
“President Buhari has already directed the Service Chiefs, including the Inspector General of Police to deploy more personnel to bring an end to the problem.
“They are already here and different operations are ongoing. We have captured so many bandits camps, for instance, we have captured Dunya camp, which for the past 10-years cannot be reached by anybody.
“We have seized so many weapons from the bandits, killed a number of them and recovered many animals rustled into the area.
“What is happening now is like the bandits want to ridicule us, we are there doing our best.
“There are over 5,000 villages sharing borders with Rugu forest and other neighbouring states such as Zamfara and Niger Republic,” the command spokesperson said.
He pointed out that the security agents could not be at all those places at a point.
The PPRO urged people to provide security agents with credible information about the plans, movements and activities of the bandits.
“Our emergency line is 08156977777. Tell us what is happening in your area or what is going to happen,” Isah said.
He urged people to cooperate with security agents to bring an end to banditry and all forms of criminalities.