Gunmen kill 18 in Borno

NOT less than 18 residents of Benishiekh and motorists
in Borno State were killed by suspected Boko Haram
gunmen who allegedly attacked the town on Tuesday
afternoon and early hours of Wednesday.
The incident occurred barely a week after killing 13
members of Borno Vigilance Youth Group (BVYG) at the
Benisheikh by suspected terrorists.
The motorists, including three drivers of Borno Express
Corporation, Maiduguri were killed at Benishiekh while
travelling on the Damaturu-Maiduguri road.
Benishiekh is 72 kilometres west of Maiduguri, the
Borno State capital, and where over a dozen vigilante
youths were killed by the insurgents on September 8,
2013.
An eyewitness and resident of Benishiekh who fled to
Maiduguri yesterday said: “As we finished our afternoon
prayers, a gang of over 300 Boko Haram gunmen
stormed Benishiekh with dangerous weapons and
started firing indiscriminately at every individual in the
town, after barricading the Maiduguri-Damaturu road
from the bridge to the Divisional Police Station at 2
p.m.
“About 30 minutes after, the gunmen stopped shooting
people they could sight, and began slitting the throats
of residents, motorists and passengers travelling to
either Maiduguri or Damaturu, the Yobe State capital.
But I escaped through a bush path on the outskirts of
the town, towards Jakana village, before I reached
Yerwa this morning.”
Speaking on attacks and killings yesterday in Maiduguri,
a top military officer of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in
Yobe State told The Guardian that intelligence report
available to soldiers and the police indicated that the
gunmen came to attack Benishiekh town from Sasawa
Forests in Yobe State.