Boko Haram steps up attacks against civilians, killing 150

Nigerian Islamist insurgents Boko Haram stepped up their attacks this week on civilians in the group’s northeastern stronghold of Borno state, killing more than 150 people in raids and suicide bombings.

Gunmen shot dead nearly 50 people in a village on Tuesday, rounded up and killed about 100 in Kukawa on Wednesday and shot dead 12 in a dawn raid elsewhere on Friday, while two suicide bombers killed at least 10 along a highway on Thursday.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who vowed to crush Boko Haram when he was sworn in on May 29th, said the killings in Kukawa were a “heinous atrocity which must be unreservedly condemned by all people of conscience”.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement: “The attacks killing about 150 people in two villages in northeastern Borno state in Nigeria and targeting Muslim worshippers during the holy month of Ramadan are another attempt to destabilise the country and the region. The EU stands with the Nigerian people and authorities in our common fight against terrorism.”

Thousands of people have been killed and about 1.5 million displaced during Boko Haram’s six-year fight to create an Islamic caliphate in the northeast of Africa’s top oil producer. – (Reuters)