Boko Haram Inflict Fresh Blows,Abduct 25 Women

Boko Haram gunmen on  Tuesday attacked Konduga town in Borno State,  killing  53 persons. They  also abducted 25 teenage girls and set fire on  many houses in the town.

Konduga is a town along Maiduguri-Bama Road and is about 40 kilometres  from the state capital, Maiduguri.

The gunmen  attacked the only hospital in the town, abducted the medical doctor and carted away drugs and medical equipment.

They  also destroyed the town’s central mosque, the palace of the district head, the market and the Abba Ashigar School of Business and Administrative Studies with explosives.

However, residents of the town claimed that over 100 people were killed during the attack, adding that many corpses were still in the bush surrounding the community.

The Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, who visited the town on Wednesday, broke down in tears during the funeral prayer organised for 33 victims of the attack.

It was learnt that few hours before Shettima’s arrival at the town, 18 corpses had already been buried at the Madarari area of Konduga.

Residents were also seen fleeing the troubled town when the governor visited.

The insurgents were alleged to have torched about 80 per cent of  the buildings in the town during Tuesday attack that eyewitnesses said lasted between 4pm and 8pm.

The insurgents, who were over 200, according to eyewitnesses, stormed the town at 4pm in 39 Toyota Hilux vehicles, armed with sophisticated weapons including rocket propelled grenades (RPGS), assault rifles and explosive devices.

Shettima, who led a large group of his aides and commissioners to the town, could not control his emotion as he wept during the prayer session held for the deceased at the partially destroyed central mosque.

Most of his aides and some surviving residents at the funeral prayer also wept. Some fought back tears while others just kept on muttering “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) in pains.

The governor after gaining control of his emotion ordered that food items should be immediately brought in to feed the people.

He directed his commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs to release N100m for the purchase of building materials and food items for the victims of the attack.

The governor also directed the commissioner for works to handle the purchase of the building materials while he directed the commissioner for local government to handle the purchase of food items.

He said, “Security or no security I am ready to stay with my people. Whoever wishes to go anywhere can do so  but I will remain with Borno people and share in their pains.

“Nobody should bring the suggestion that any part of the state is not safe so I should go somewhere else. I am ready to face the problem with my people and together we will find solution to it. Whatever resources it will take to rebuild the houses, I will make them available .”

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency has moved into the town to establish camps for the displaced persons.