TheCable

Boko Haram has beheaded six farmers at Dimge plantation in the Mafa local government area of Borno state.

The killing is the latest in a string of attacks in the violence-wracked north-east, where more than 20,000 people have been killed in nine years of insurgency.

The killing occurred on November 19, while the farmers worked on their farms in the plantation, a witness, Jiddah Ahmad, told a NAN correspondent in Jere town, near Maiduguri.

Ahmad said the insurgents abducted seven farmers killed six of them in a nearby bush.

Ahmad, who is a younger brother to one of the slain farmers, said that two of the deceased were from Lawanti Gongulon village in Jere.

According to him, the remaining four are from Masu community in Mafa.

“My brother was working on the farm together with other farmers. They were accosted by the insurgents when they went to fetch water at a river,” he said.

“The insurgents shot my brother before beheading him and beheaded another farmer on the same spot while an old farmer was set free.”

Usman Muhammad, a member of the civilian joint task force, also told NAN that the insurgents had earlier killed four other farmers at the same plantation.

Muhammad disclosed that the insurgents came to the farm on motorbikes and attacked the farmers.

He said they forced an aged farmer among the abductees to witness the brutal murder of other farmers, telling him to convey the message to families of the victims.

“We are currently seeking clearance from the military authorities to enable us to evacuate the corpses for proper burial,” he said.

The military and police authorities have yet to make statements on the latest killings.