JUST-IN: 15 Killed, Others Missing As Terrorists Attack Borno Rice Farmers

Suspected Boko Haram terrorists, on Sunday, attacked Zabarmari farmers while working on their rice fields in Mafa local government area of Borno State, killing over 15.

Awali Casa, a rice farmer, who confirmed the attack on Monday to LEADERSHIP in Maiduguri, said there was palpable fear among the Zabarmari rice farmers as they were still searching for the bodies of their fellow farmers killed on their rice fields by the terrorists, as well as those missing.

LEADERSHIP gathered that the heavily armed terrorists stormed the rice fields and attacked the farmers who were harvesting in the villages of Koshebe, Karkut and Bulabulin in Mafa local government area of the State, which is less than 20 kilometers from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Intelligence sources, according to Zagazola Makama, a Counter-Insurgency Expert and Security Analyst in the Lake Chad region, said that the terrorists, who were on motorcycles divided themselves into three groups before attacking the farmers.

The sources said that the attackers did not use their guns, but instead, they used cutlasses and knifes to stab the victims in multiple parts of their bodies.

“So sad, nine bodied were recovered as of yesterday (Sunday) night while the search for others who fled the attacks were still ongoing,” Makama said.

It could be recalled that the Boko Haram terrorists about three years ago also killed over 76 rice farmers in the same Zabarmari, a rice farming community in Jere local government area of the state. Some of the Zabarmari rice farmers, who are also in communities in Mafa local government area, are the victims of the latest attack.

In the previous attack, the Boko Haram terrorists admitted to killing scores of the rice farmers and said the attacks were carried out as punishment for the farmers’ collaboration with the Nigerian military.