Boko Haram Islamists have hoisted their black and white flag over a town in northeastern Nigeria, after torching homes to the ground and killing more than 100 residents as they tried to flee.
Survivors told the Associated Press on Saturday that jihadists used rocket launchers and homemade bombs in their attack on Damboa town before dawn on Friday. Gunmen shot villagers as they tried to flee their burning homes.
A human rights advocate, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AP that gunmen attacked again on Friday as people were trying to bury the dead. The only defense came from vigilantes armed with clubs and homemade rifles.
Hundreds of villagers are fleeing Askira Uba, another local government area of Borno State, after receiving letters from Boko Haram threatening an attack, civil defense spokesman Abbas Gava, of the Nigerian Vigilante Group, told AP.
“Nine major villages are on the run,” he said.
Boko Haram wants to enforce a “pure” Islamic state ruled by shariah in Nigeria, though half the country’s population of 170 million is Christian.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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