MOSCOW, November 24 (Sputnik) –Suspected Boko Haram militants carried out another brutal attack on civilians in a market in the city of Damasak, reports AFP.
"The terrorists disguised as traders and opened fire on unsuspecting traders at a market in Damasak" in Borno State near the border with Niger, an officer told AFP.
Government officer Mohammed Damasak said it was not yet possible to give an accurate death toll. He said the weapons were concealed in containers the gunmen brought to the market.
"They pretended to be traders but sadly inflicted horror. Many traders escaped with bullet wounds while many are lying dead at the market," he said.
Boko Haram carried out similar violent attack in a city of Doron Baga over the weekend killing 48 people. They attacked a group of fish traders on Sunday; details about the killings remain indistinct. One police source said that more than 25 people, mostly fishermen, had been shot dead. Another source cited by news agencies put the death toll as high as 48, reported Reuters.
Vis-à-vis Sunday’s attack, the head of the region’s fish traders association Abubakr Gamandi told AFP, "The Boko Haram gunmen slit the throats of some of the men and tied the hands and legs of the others before throwing them into the lake to drown."
Ruthless violence, which has plagued the region for years, had eased slightly as Boko Haram apparently pursued a campaign to establish itself as a rebel government in captured towns, trying to assure locals that they could live under Islamist rule, reports AFP.
Many experts, however, argued that the militants would ultimately resume the killings, especially if confronted with military pressure.
The Boko Haram insurgency is estimated to have cost more than 13,000 lives since 2009.
The Nigerian government has been waging a five year war against the terror group, which seeks to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.
