An unnamed senior medical officer at the Borno State General Hospital said 55 others have been admitted into the emergency section of the health facility, following suicide attacks late on Saturday in Dalori and Walori settlements in the province, Xinhua reported.
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A local vigilante official, Gava Abbas, said, “It isn’t a good day for us today; the whole town is burnt down and many are feared killed, but my colleague who is also trapped outside Maiduguri said he can’t give details immediately”.
Meanwhile, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered from some villagers and aid workers that no fewer than 50 persons were killed during the attack.
He said the insurgents who were dressed in army camouflages came in Hilux vans and motorcycles and operated unhindered, setting houses ablaze. Several civilians were burnt beyond recognition.
The Commissioner for Health in Borno State Dr. Haruna Mshelia briefed the Deputy Governor and the GOC at the Specialist Hospital Maiduguri that 65 bodies were deposited at the Specialist Hospital, 10 others at the University Teaching Hospital while another 10 have been buried at Dalori village. Suicide bombers were readied to take action on groups who were caught up in the frightful chaos. Their motives were to cause rancor and penetrate crowd with suicide bombers.
Col. Mustapha Anka, the Media Coordinator of Operation Lafiya Dole Theater Command, stated this in a statement in Maiduguri.
A security guard helping to collect the dead says bodies were also found in surrounding bushes, where the insurgents hunted down fleeing villagers.
The state is the heartland of the seven-year insurgency that seeks to establish an Islamist state.
The area is just about three miles away from Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram in 2002.
Saturday but were unable to overcome the attackers, who were better armed, said soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity.
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One of the survivors from the village said he had to climb a tree to hide as he saw people being killed while fleeing.
