Boko Haram kills at least 55 in northeast Nigeria

Eastern Nigeria, hit by Boko Haram a decade ago, began resettling displaced families in 2016, including Darul Jamal

Terrorists killed at least 55 people in northeastern Nigeria while storming a town home to residents who had been returned from a closed camp for internally displaced persons, an NGO worker and civilian militia leader told AFP Saturday.

The Friday night assault came during an attack on the town of Darul Jamal, which hosts a military base on the Nigeria-Cameroon border. A security source told AFP that five soldiers were among the dead, while a militia commander, Babagana Ibrahim, put the number at six.

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The attacks began around 9:00 pm Friday in Darul Jamal, a community in Bama district recently resettled after years of displacement, and continued until daybreak. Militants also struck Banki town, killing residents and travellers, according to villagers.

“More than 50 people were killed in last night’s attacks,” one civilian source said, adding that many victims were among internally displaced persons (IDPs) who had returned to their communities. Another source said several residents remain missing.

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At least 20 houses and 10 buses were burned, witnesses reported.

Bama was one of the hardest-hit areas during the Boko Haram insurgency a decade ago, when militants forced mass displacement in what became one of the region’s worst humanitarian crises. Nigerian authorities began resettling displaced families in 2016, with Darul Jamal among the latest communities to be repopulated.