Several people were feared killed on Friday morning as gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram attacked Damboa in Borno State.
Damboa has been reportedly deserted by soldiers since the Boko Haram attack on security formations there about two weeks ago.
According to a vigilante official in Maiduguri, who said he spoke with some of his men in the Damboa village, the gunmen stormed the village at about 5 a.m, stressing that only a handful of youth vigilante group, known as Civilian-JTF, and some few vigilante officials were available in Damboa to protect the people.
Attempts by soldiers to return to Damboa military base since two weeks ago are said to have failed as the Boko Haram gunmen took over the highway and continued to engage soldiers in ambush attacks that have forced them to return to Maiduguri on two occasions.
“Since the attack, Damboa has no police or soldiers,” Gava said. “It is only the vigilantes that are there and we know their limitations.”
He said the “casualty could be very high because my contacts in Damboa said they are still picking and piling the corpses. But many houses, nearly half of what remains of the several attacked town has been burnt”.
The attacks on Borno communities have continued despite a state of emergency in the state and the expenditure of trillions of naira on defence.
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