At least 14 people were killed and several others injured by Boko Haram gunmen in a Christmas Day attack on a village in northeastern Nigeria, vigilantes said on Saturday.
Attacking astride bicycles, the jihadists invaded Kimba village in flashpoint Borno state around 22:00 on Friday, opening fire on residents and torching their homes.
Hundreds of Kimba residents fled to Biu nearby, where they were put up in a refugee camp already brimming with people running from Boko Haram.
The attack comes just days before Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s self-imposed deadline to stamp out the group expires on December 31 and in the same week he said that Nigeria has “technically” defeated the jihadists.
Buhari took office in May vowing to end the six-year insurgency that has killed over 17 000 people and spooked much-needed investors in Africa’s largest economy and foremost oil producer.
Nigerian troops have won back territory from Boko Haram, but in response the jihadists have increasingly resorted to suicide bombers – many of them young children – to wage war for an independent Islamic state.
The militants have damaged what little infrastructure existed in the country’s underdeveloped north at a time when the government is facing a cash crunch as a result of the free-falling oil price.
A week ago, Boko Haram killed 30 people and injured 20 others in raids on three villages near the home of the Nigerian army chief.
The jihadists have allied themselves with the Islamic State group, but experts doubt the scale and scope of the collaboration.
Still, there are growing fears that a once localised hardline Muslim movement is morphing into a regional jihadist threat as Boko Haram launches attacks on Nigeria’s neighbours Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
