Islamists take revenge on village

Yola, Nigeria – Chanting ‘‘Allah is great’’, suspected Islamist militants gunned down dozens of villagers and slit the throats of others in the latest attack in a northeast Nigerian area where the military has been bombing extremists out of their forest hideouts, survivors said today.

Local government chairman Maina Ularamu said he had received reports of more than 50 people killed in yesterday’s attack on Izghe village in Borno state.

Funeral rites had been held for 52 Muslim victims at the central mosque in the nearby town of Madagali, mosque officials confirmed.

One survivor said the

list of those killed amounted to 63 dead. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

He said the attackers looted the village’s food stores, set fire to mud homes with thatched roofs, and made off with about 10 vehicles.

The survivors said they were among hundreds of people from Izghe and neighbouring villages who fled on foot through the bush during the night from Borno into Adamawa, two of three northeastern Nigerian states that are under a state of emergency to halt a fouryear-old Islamist uprising.

The area is dotted by mainly Christian villages in a predominantly Muslim region, but the militants have Christians and Muslims criminately.

Insurgents of the Boko Haram terrorist network routinely attack civilians after they are attacked by the military.

On Thursday, Nigeria’s air force began daily bombardments near Izghe of extremist hideouts in the Sambisa Forest along the border with Cameroon.

Ground troops moved in following the bombing, and at least nine soldiers and several militants were killed in a fierce battle, according to hospital and military sources.

Ularamu urged the military to deploy more troops, saying the killed indis- soldiers were outnumbered and outgunned by militants armed with anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons, as well as armoured cars stolen during attacks.

Dozens more soldiers have been stationed in recent days in Madagali town, about 30 kilometres from the scene of yesterday’s attack.

Thousands have been killed and tens of thousands forced from their homes by the state of emergency and by militants who want to create an Islamic state in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer.

The country’s population of more than 160 million is made up of about equal numbers of Christians and Muslims.