Boko Haram raids Adamawa community, burns ’60 houses’

At least 60 houses were torched in a fresh attack by Boko Haram insurgents in Ghumbili community in the Madagali local government area of Adamawa state.

The attack comes a few days after a similar incident in a neighbouring village in the local government, known as Mildu, where seven people were killed by the insurgents.

Yusuf Muhammed, chairman of Madagali local government council, said the attack lasted from 11pm on Wednesday to 3am on Thursday.

He said militants also looted foodstuff.

“They looted foodstuff, killed livestock and burnt the village completely,” he said.

Muhammed said that the exact number of dead and injured people had yet to be ascertained and that villagers who escaped the attack were currently taking refuge at Gulak, the headquarters of the council.

Othman Abubakar, spokesman of the police command in Adamawa, also confirmed the attack but said no life was lost.

He said, however, that houses were destroyed in the attack, the latest in a string of deadly blows on mainly soft targets in the north-east.

Speaking on the development,Haruna Furo, executive chairman of the Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency, said only one person was killed and that many houses were destroyed.

Boko Haram appears to have raised its onslaught in recent weeks in its eight-year bloody insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives.