TheCable

Officials of the Nigerian army and special anti-robbery squad (SARS) were involved in a gun duel with Boko Haram insurgents in Mairari village, Konduga local government area of Borno state, on Saturday evening.

A military source, who confirmed this to TheCable, said the insurgents invaded the village around 8:45pm on Saturday, shooting sporadically.

The source said this forced the security operatives to move to the scene to repel the attack.

Babagana Goni, a villager who fled the attack, said the insurgents stormed the town in trucks with anti-aircraft guns.

“Mairari was under Boko Haram attack. The security personnel came to our rescue but many of our people had been killed while many houses were raised by fire,” Mairari said.

The insurgents were said to have attacked and killed some farmers in a separate encounter in the early hours of Saturday.

Hamisu Bashir, a civilian joint task force (CJTF) in Bakassi camp, said over 30 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who obtained pass to go to their farms on Saturday were yet to return to the camp.

Bashir said four unknown corpses were brought to the camp management for confirmation but they did not find the IDPs.

Boko Haram has launched many attacks within the last one week.