In the early afternoon of Saturday, 28 November, armed men on motorcycles perpetrated a barbaric attack against civilians in the village of Koshobe and other rural communities g near Maiduguri, the capital of the conflict-hit Borno state. According to the UN, at least 110 persons were killed. Reportedly, the assailants tied up and slit the throats of the victims, who are mainly agricultural workers from Sokoto state in north-west Nigeria who had travelled to the north-east for work. Although no claim of responsibility was reported, government sources blamed the Jihadist group Boko Haram and the rival dissident faction Islamic State in the West Africa Province (ISWAP) as both are active in the region and have carried out a series of deadly assaults in the area in recent years.
Nigerian authorities and UN representatives in the country firmly condemned the killings and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the country, Edward Kallon, stated that the incident was the most violent direct attack against innocent civilians this year. Mr. Kallon furthermore cited “reports that several women may have been kidnapped” and urged for their immediate release and return home. The Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari also denounced the attack and added via his spokesman that “the entire country is hurt by these senseless killings”. Yet, citizens in the country are growing frustrated with the authorities’ inability to contain the conflict and to curb the militants’ ability to carry out such attacks.
President Buhari, who took office in 2015, had promised to resolve the security crisis and repeatedly claimed that the Islamist militant groups had been “technically” defeated. However, despite all efforts to end Boko Haram’s and ISWAP’s spree of violence and the support rendered to the armed forces for the protection of the population, the government appears to be unable to relieve the region from the terrorist groups. To the contrary, this is only the latest of a series of attacks in the north-east region in recent months. In June, an assault near the village of Gubio left 81 people dead, while in October 22 farmers were killed working on irrigation fields.
To learn more, please visit:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/29/at-least-110-civilians-killed-in-gruesome-nigeria-massacre
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/29/nigeria-attack-boko-haram-farm-workers-killed
Author: Michele Pitta
