Nine IDPs Killed By Boko Haram Buried

Amidst tears, residents of Daima village in Kala Balge Local Government Area of Borno State on Thursday buried nine of their colleagues who were slaughtered by Boko Haram insurgents on Wednesday.

Daiman, a border community near Cameroon, is just a few kilometres away from Rann, the headquarters of Kala Balge where Nigeria airforce fighter jet, on January 17, mistakenly dropped bombs on displaced persons in a camp.

At least 100 persons were reportedly killed. The attack was described as a mistake on the part of the pilot who did not get the correct coordinates on the location of Boko Haram fighters who were said to be gathering at a spot not far away from the IDP camp in Rann.

Hundreds of the villagers who escaped the Wednesday attack fled into Cameroon. Many who made it to the IDP camp in Rann are currently being treated for various degrees of wounds by medics stationed in the camp.

The Chief Imam of Rann, Ba’liman Goni Guja , informed journalists on the phone that they had to wait for the military to help them pick the corpses because they could not go back to the village.

He narrated how the victims were attacked while they were working on their farms at about 10 0’clock in the morning.

He said most of the IDPs in Rann could no longer cope with the insufficient food rations being offered them in the camp, so they decided to go outside the camp to the farm to produce crops to supplement their feeding in the camp.

“Initially, we were informed that the victims were attacked by the Boko Haram gunmen while they were on their way back to the camp after working on their farms but later we got a clearer message from those that survived that the attack took place while they were still on their farms.”

The Imam said many of the villagers who went out to the farm are yet to be accounted for.

“Many people are still to be accounted for, but the soldiers have released nine corpses, which we buried this morning”, the Chief Imam said.

There are fears that amongst the relatives of the attacked IDPs that the casualties could be higher than what is being reported.

Mommodu Bashir, a trader in Maiduguri who spoke with journalists ,said he has relatives who are in the camp and he fears they could be in danger.

“I have not heard from them since Wednesday. We normally communicate sometimes through the Cameroonian telecom system because they are closer to the border. I doubt if it was only nine persons that may have been killed. We learnt that some who managed to escape back to Rann had dagger and gun wounds on their bodies. We pray the others that are yet to be found are safe.”