The jihadist group Boko Haram has killed more than 60 people in an overnight attack in Nigeria’s north-eastern Borno State, local officials have confirmed.
On Friday night, militants stormed the village of Darul Jamal, which hosts a military base near the Nigeria–Cameroon border, killing at least five soldiers.
The Nigerian Air Force said it killed 30 militants in airstrikes after receiving reports of the raid. Residents of Darul Jamal had only recently returned to the community after years of displacement.
More than 20 houses and 10 buses were destroyed, while at least 13 drivers and labourers working on reconstruction projects in the town were also killed, Reuters reported.
Visiting the village on Saturday, Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum described the incident as “very sad.”
“It’s very sad, this community was resettled some months ago and they went about their normal business,” he told AFP.
“The numerical strength of the Nigerian army is not enough to contain the situation,” he added, noting that a newly established unit known as the Forest Guards would help reinforce security in the region.
Nigerian Air Force spokesperson Ehimen Ejodame said surveillance identified militants “fleeing northwards from the town towards nearby bushes” on Friday night.
“In a series of three precise and successive strikes, the fleeing terrorists were decisively engaged, resulting in the neutralisation of over 30 insurgents,” he said.
The Nigerian military has intensified operations in the north-east this year following persistent targeted attacks on its bases and installations.
In April, Governor Zulum warned that Boko Haram was making a comeback after its fighters launched a series of assaults and seized some areas of Borno State.
Boron has been the epicentre of a 15-year insurgency that has killed more than 40,000 people and forced over two million to flee their homes.
At the height of its campaign in 2015, Boko Haram controlled large parts of Borno before being pushed back by Nigerian forces. But the withdrawal of Niger’s troops from a regional military coalition has further complicated counter-insurgency efforts.
Boko Haram gained international notoriety in April 2014 when it abducted more than 270 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, also in Borno State.
