Boko Haram kills 31 in Borno – send bodies as warning to the military

-Boko Haram strikes in Borno again, kill 31 fishermen.

-This follows the approval by the Nigerian military which lifted the ban on fishing in the Lake Chad waters.

-Communication was difficult due to lack of masts in the area.

Armed fighters said to be Boko Haram terrorists, stormed the fishing islands of Duguri and Dabar Wanzam in the freshwater lake Saturday, attacking fishermen working in the area and shooting and killing their victims.

“Boko Haram attacked Duguri and Dabar Wanzam islands and killed 31 people,” a member of a local militia fighting the jihadists in Maiduguri, Babakura Kolo told Nigeria News.

The attack left at least 31 fishermen killed by the Boko Haram fighters in two separate attacks on islands in Lake Chad in northeastern Nigeria, fishermen and vigilantes fighting the Islamists told Nigeria News late Monday.

“They (Boko Haram) killed 14 in Duguri and another 17 in Dabar Wanzam,” Kolo said.

The fishermen had returned to the fishing grounds of Baga on the lake’s shores days earlier and had paddled out to the two islands in wooden canoes on Friday, looking for fish, said Musa Ari, who gave similar account.

News of the attacks was slow to filter out with communication in the area difficult as Boko Haram has destroyed telecom masts in the region in attacks over the last few years.

Fisherman Sallau Inuwa said the Boko Haram terrorists first attacked Duguri island where they killed 12 fishermen and injured two others who later died.

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“The attackers split into two groups. While the first attacked Duguri the second went to nearby Dabar Wanzam where they laid in wait for those who fled the attack in Duguri. They killed 17 in Dabar Wanzam,” Inuwa told Nigeria News.

The attackers spared one fisherman in Duguri and loaded the 12 bodies of the men they killed in a canoe and ordered him to take them to Baga as a warning that no one should fish in the lake, said another fisherman Dauda Tukur.

“They told the man they spared to inform the troops in Baga that they were waiting for them on the islands,” he said.

The Nigerian military banned fishing on the Nigerian side of the lake following accusations that Boko Haram was using proceeds from fishing to fund its armed campaign.

The ban left thousands of displaced residents in poverty, forcing them to rely on food handouts from government and aid agencies.

READ ALSO:Nigerian Army Kill Two Boko Haram Suspects, Disarm IEDs

The attacks happened a week after military authorities lifted a two-year ban on fishing in the freshwater lake that is in between Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad.

The lifting of the ban attracted many fishermen back to the area.

Although following renewed attacks by the Boko Haram terrorists, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo ordered the relocation of the service chiefs to Borno State to combat the resurgent terrorists and as earlier reported by Naija News, they are already on ground.

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