Boko Haram attack on Nigerian village leaves nearly 100 people dead

Witnesses say more than 50 militants descended on Kukawa village, firing on worshippers praying in mosques during Ramadan and moving on to houses

Nearly 100 people have been killed in an attack on mosques and houses in a village in north-eastern Nigerian by suspected Boko Haram militants, witnesses said on Thursday.

“The attackers have killed at least 97 people,” a local man from Kukawa village who gave his name as Kolo told AFP, saying he had counted the bodies.

A fisherman who witnessed the attack on Wednesday corroborated the death toll.

“They wiped out the immediate family of my uncle … They killed his children, about five of them, and set his entire house ablaze,” Kolo said.

Another witness, Babami Alhaji Kolo, who fled to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state where the attack took place, said more than 50 militants stormed the village early on Wednesday evening.

“The terrorists first descended on Muslim worshippers in various mosques who were observing the maghrib prayer shortly after breaking their [Ramadan] fast,” he said.

“They … opened fire on the worshippers, who were mostly men and young children.

“They spared nobody. In fact, while some of the terrorists waited and set most of the corpses on fire, others proceeded to houses and shot indiscriminately at women who were preparing food,” he said.