Gunmen kill more than 100 people in 2 Nigerian villages

LAGOS, Nigeria — Gunmen killed at least 100 people in attacks in northern and northeastern Nigeria, witnesses said on Wednesday.

In the first attack, gunmen arrived on motorcycles and in cars to attack the village of Foduma Kolomaiya in northeastern Borno State on Tuesday night, killing whoever stood in their way, Rabiu Isa, a member of a civil defense unit, told dpa via telephone.

“We counted 69 corpses, but the death toll may be higher because some people are still missing,” said Isa, adding that many villagers were injured during the two-hour attack.

Another witness, resident Mohammed Abba, told dpa the attackers stole or killed more than 2,000 cows. They also stole food and destroyed homes, he said.

Dozens more people were killed in a second string of attacks on Tuesday, when gunmen attacked villagers in Nigeria’s northern state of Katsina.

Umar Garba, of Kadisau village, said 40 people were killed after a large group of gunmen attacked his village and neighboring communities in Faskari Local Government Area.

The attackers also took a large number of cows.

Local media stated that about 50 people had been killed in the attack.

Gambo Isah, police spokesman for Katsina state, did not respond to requests for comment.

It remains unclear who was behind the attacks. Bandits have repeatedly attacked locations in central and northern Nigeria, plundering villages and kidnapping people.

Boko Haram, an Islamist terrorist organization, poses a steady threat to communities in country’s northeast, and has also launched offensives in neighboring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

Since 2009, tens of thousands of people have died at the hands of the Sunni fundamentalists in the region and an estimated 2.5 million people have fled their homes.