Boko Haram kill at least 14 in Christmas Day attack in Nigeria

At least 14 people have been killed and several others injured by Boko Haram gunmen in a Christmas Day attack on a village in northeastern Nigeria, vigilantes said on Saturday.

Mounted on bicycles, the jihadists invaded Kimba village in flashpoint Borno state at around 10pm on Friday, opening fire on residents and torching their homes, The Guardian reported.

“The gunmen killed 14 people and burnt the whole village before they fled,” Mustapha Karimbe, a civilian assisting the military in fighting Boko Haram said. “Not a single house was spared in the arson,” another vigilante, Musa Suleiman, said after visiting the razed village.

Hundreds of Kimba residents fled to nearby Biu, where they were put up in a refugee camp already brimming with people running from Boko Haram.

Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari’s self-imposed deadline to stamp out the group expires on December 31. He said earlier this week that Nigeria has “technically” defeated the jihadists.

Buhari took office in May vowing to end the six-year insurgency that has killed over 17,000 people and spooked much needed investors in Africa’s largest economy and foremost oil producer. Nigerian troops have won back territory from Boko Haram, but in response the jihadists have increasingly resorted to suicide bombers – many of them young children – to wage war for an independent Islamic state.

Source: MENA