Gunmen suspected to be members of the Islamic group, Boko Haram, killed 11 people making charcoal in a bush in Bale, a village in Damboa local government area of Borno state on Monday.
Residents of the area told Premium Times on Wednesday that the incident happened on Monday evening.
A resident who does not want to be named told this newspaper that the insurgents rode into the village on camelbacks and slaughtered the charcoal gatherers with knives.
A witness, who managed to escape, said the insurgents surrounded the victims as they worked, giving them no chance to escape.
“Before we knew it, we were surrounded by these insurgents numbering about 15, all of them on camels. They were armed with guns but they used knives to slaughter their victims one after the other,” the source said.
The source said those who escaped did so because they knew the terrain well.
One Baba Buba who narrowly escaped said when he and other escapees returned to the scene, they discovered six decapitated bodies.
“The following morning of Tuesday, we went back to the place while searching the surroundings for the remaining five missing persons, we recovered their corpses in the bush.
“With the help of the local vigilante and soldiers, those killed and recovered were buried in the evening of Monday while the remaining five copses were buried on Tuesday in the morning,” Buba said.
The spokesperson of the Borno state police command, Nahun Daso, said he was not aware of the incident.
“I was asked a similar question by other journalists but I contacted the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Damboa, but I have not gotten the feedback yet,” he said.
Also, army spokesperson Nyama Nwachuku, a Major General, did not answer calls made to his mobile phone, nor respond to a text message sent to him requesting comment. (Premium Times)
