Militants kill 14 Nigerian farmers: official

ABUJA: Militants have killed at least 14 farmers in a raid on farmlands in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, with a local official warning that the toll may rise.

The farmers were clearing their land on Saturday near Pulka town in Gwoza district in preparation for the upcoming planting season when they were attacked, said Abba Shehu Timta, the district’s political administrator.

Search and rescue teams, accompanied by troops, were combing nearby bushes for more bodies, he added.

The town near the border with Cameroon has been repeatedly attacked by jihadists.

“The terrorists killed 14 farmers who were clearing their farms and injured four others,” Timta said, blaming the attack on Boko Haram.

“They launched the attack from nearby Vlei village where they have a camp,” he added.

Boko Haram and its rival Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have increasingly targeted farmers, fishermen, loggers, herders, and metal scrap collectors in the region, accusing them of spying for the Nigerian military and the local anti-jihadist militia assisting the troops.

On Friday, Borno State governor Babagana Zulum lamented “military setbacks” in efforts to defeat the jihadists, who have entrenched themselves in the Lake Chad islands, Sambisa Forest and Mandara Mountains.

Boko Haram jihadists have been attacking Gwoza district and surrounding areas since 2014, when the group first seized the town and declared it part of their caliphate during their takeover of large swathes of northern Borno.

The Nigerian military, with support from Chadian forces, retook the town in 2015.

However, Boko Haram continues to launch attacks from the Mandara mountain range along the border with Cameroon.

Military bases were established in the region to curb the jihadists’ deadly raids and the kidnapping of women who venture into the bush to collect firewood and acacia fruits.

Since 2009, more than 40,000 people have been killed and around two million displaced from their homes in Nigeria’s northeast by the jihadist conflict.

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The conflict has spread into neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon, prompting the formation of a regional military force to fight the militants.