Boko Haram attacks Adamawa, military jets pound rebel positions

Boko Haram fighters hacked to death 10 people in remote northeast Nigeria, a local government official said on Monday, as the military claimed to have thwarted a fresh attack.

The attack happened early on Friday in the village of Pambula-Kwamda, the local government chairman of Madagali in the north of Adamawa state told AFP.

“The attackers went into the village around 4:00 am (0300 GMT) while residents were still asleep and used machetes to attack their victims,” Maina Ularamu added.

News of the killings only emerged on Monday because of the remote location and communications difficulties caused by the insurgency.

It followed Boko Haram assaults on nearby Sabon Gari Hyembula village last weekend, in which three people were killed and seven women were kidnapped, Ularamu said.

“We believe they were the same people,” he added.
Northern Adamawa state, which the military declared “clear” of insurgents in March, has been hit several times as troops target rebels in their Sambisa Forest stronghold, just across the border in Borno state.

– ‘Villages razed’ –

Soldiers have rescued hundreds of kidnapped women and children from the forest.

On Sunday, 31 people who were freed last week — most of them children under 12 — were brought to the Malkohi camp outside the Adamawa state capital, Yola, relief officials said.

A camp worker, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said: “About four (of the women) gave birth in the forest. The children are looking really malnourished.”
Some 275 women and children freed earlier this month were last week transferred to an undisclosed location to receive medical attention and counselling to help them come to terms with their ordeal.

Several women recounted seeing their husbands killed in front of them as they were abducted and then forced to marry their captors.

Some 10 women were visibly pregnant when AFP visited the camp earlier this month.

On Monday, defence spokesman Chris Olukolade said troops had thwarted an attack on Mafa, 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.

About 30 Boko Haram fighters were killed and “many others” wounded, he added.

Boko Haram on Saturday attacked the town of Gubio, 95 kilometres north of Maiduguri, with many feared killed, locals and vigilantes said.

Fleeing residents meanwhile said Nigerian fighter jets razed four villages occupied by Boko Haram near the border with Cameroon.
At least three jets bombed Duwu, Jarawa, Mallum Maja and Mudu in the Kalabalge area of Borno state over six hours on Sunday.

“It is very unlikely if anyone in the villages survived, going by the scale of the bombardment,” said Idris Hassan, from the nearby Malawaji village.