Suspected Boko Haram militants
killed 18 people in northeast Nigeria on Friday, according to local witnesses
and officials, the latest in an escalating number of lethal attacks in the
region.
The
knife-wielding attackers, moving under cover of night, targeted people in the
town of Banki, 80 miles (130 km) southeast of the city of Maiduguri in Borno
state, the epicenter of the eight-year conflict with Boko Haram, said a
community leader and a local member of a vigilante group.
The
attack on the town, which sits on the border with Cameroon, is the latest in a
string of deadly Boko Haram raids and bombings that have undermined the
Nigerian military’s statements that the insurgency is all but defeated.
The
frequency of attacks in northeastern Nigeria has increased in the last few
months, killing at least 172 people since June 1 before Friday’s attack,
according to a Reuters tally.
The
attack on Banki left 18 dead, according to Modu Perobe, a member of the
Civilian Joint Task Force, a regional vigilante group. Abor Ali, a local ruler,
confirmed the death toll.
Boko
Haram’s eight-year insurgency has left at least 20,000 dead and sparked one of
the largest humanitarian crises in the world, with tens of thousands already in
famine-like conditions, according to the United Nations.
Some 8.5
million people in the worst affected parts of northeast Nigeria are now in need
of some form of humanitarian assistance, with 5.2 million people lacking secure
access to food, the U.N. has said.
News
Source: - Reuters | September 2, 2017.
Photo Source: - Leadership | May 19, 2017.
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