Boko Haram jihadists have killed four farmers near the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, in the latest bloodshed in the restive region, witnesses and a local militia leader said on Monday.
An eyewitness Mala Umara confirmed this saying “They came in large numbers on foot while we were picking cowpea in the field and arrested six of us while others escaped.”
The farmers were working on their field near Jiddari-Polo when dozens of fighters loyal to Boko Haram swooped in on them. A few took to their heels but some were unlucky.
They said the Islamists hacked their victims to death and left another farmer with severe injuries.
“They macheted four to death before my eyes and left the other man seriously injured,” he said.
A civilian militia leader in the city, BabakuraKoloconfirmed the killings.
Umara, 75, was spared by the militants with a message to Nigerian troops stationed in Jiddari-Polo that they should brace for an impending attack from the jihadists.”They asked me to deliver a message to the soldiers that they should be prepared for an attack soon.
“They told me the same message three times and emphasised I convey it to the soldiers,” Umara said.
Abba Muhammad was one of the fortunate farmers who escaped when the militants stormed the crop fields.
“Five of them armed with guns and machetes encircled me and began asking me the location of soldiers in Jiddari-Polo,” he said.
“One of them shouted that they should attack me with machetes but I instinctively bolted.”
“Two of them pursued me but I was too fast for them. They took my bicycle with them,” he said.
Authorities in the region could not be immediately reached about this latest attack.
Boko Haram has stepped up attacks on farmers and loggers in recent years, accusing them of passing information about the group to the military.
