Jihadists linked to the Islamic State group killed dozens of people in the latest of a flurry of bloody attacks in Borno, local sources said Sunday.
Inhabitants of remote Goni Usmanti village told AFP that fighters gunned down 38 people in a raid on Saturday and set a truck ablaze killing an unknown number of passengers.
Independently, security sources and inhabitants said the loss of life from a second assault Saturday on the town of Monguno, 60 kilometers (40 miles) away, had ascended to 15, including nine officers.
The killings are the most recent in a spike of attacks by warriors accepted to be from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group after they slaughtered 81 individuals at a town in the territory on Tuesday.
Jihadists in pickup trucks on Saturday shot dead escaping inhabitants in Goni Usmanti after brief conflicts with individuals from a neighborhood government-sponsored local army, sources said.
“The guerillas murdered 38 individuals, including six vigilantes who set up a battle before they were overwhelmed,” neighborhood self-preservation bunch pioneer Babakura Kolo said.
Resident Grema Nuwaisu gave the same toll and said the fighters had opened fire on a lorry loaded with traders, burning the vehicle and those inside.
“We don’t know how many people were on the lorry which was full,” Nuwaisu said.
“It was completely burnt, making it difficult to identify bodies. Only two passengers jumped off the truck and escaped.”
