At least 110 civilians were killed in an attack in northern Nigeria on Saturday while working in rice fields. The killings are believed to be the work of the Boko Haram terror group, a UN representative from the country reported Sunday.
The massacre took place in the village of Koshobe, near the city of Maiduguri. Farm workers and villagers were tied up and their throats slit. “At least 110 civilians were brutally killed and many others were injured in this attack,” said Edward Kallon of the UN.
Previously, the death toll from the attack was 43 and there were several injuries. Borno Region Governor Babaganan Umara Zulum mentioned 70 dead earlier in the day.
The governor was at the funeral of several dozen victims in the nearby village of Zabarmari on Sunday. The murdered farm workers were from the Sokoto region of northwestern Nigeria, some 600 kilometers from Koshobe, and had traveled to the region to look for work.
Saturday’s massacre may have been in retaliation from Boko Haram, after farmers rounded up a fighter a day earlier and handed it over to the Nigerian army.
Farmers are increasingly victims
The north of Nigeria has been ravaged for years by the struggle of Boko Haram and the ISWAP group, affiliated with ISWAP, against the Nigerian army. Both terror groups are fighting for influence in the area and are also gaining a foothold in neighboring countries Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
Innocent civilians and farmers are often victims of the fighting. They are accused by the terror groups of passing information to the army.
In two attacks earlier this month near Koshobe, 22 agricultural workers were killed. The Boko Haram terror has killed more than 36,000 people since 2009, and more than 2 million people have fled.
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