MAIDUGURI, Borno (AP) — Eleven people lost their lives and two others sustained critical injuries when extremist fighters launched a deadly assault on a remote Nigerian village during overnight hours, according to local authorities who spoke Wednesday. The violence represents another chapter in the ongoing security challenges facing Africa’s most populated nation.
Tuesday night’s deadly raid occurred in Pubagu, a settlement located in an isolated region near Sambisa forest within Borno state, which serves as the center of Nigeria’s prolonged battle against extremist insurgency. Community members conducted burial ceremonies for the deceased on Wednesday and blamed the assault on the radical Boko Haram organization.
Local council chairman Mwada Saidu Uba spoke with The Associated Press, explaining that the community had historically been spared from such violence.
“Pubagu is one of the locations in our council area that had never suffered such an attack until yesterday,” he said after the funerals. The two injured were receiving treatment at a nearby hospital, he added.
Ward official Usman Rumirgo reported that the attackers torched multiple residences before departing the location.
Remote farming communities frequently face assaults from extremist organizations and criminal gangs that exploit Nigeria’s expansive countryside and weaknesses in security coverage.
The most notable extremist organizations operating within Nigeria include Boko Haram along with its splinter group that maintains ties to the Islamic State and operates under the name Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP. Additional threats come from the Islamic State-connected Lakurawa organization, plus various criminal networks focused on kidnapping operations and unauthorized mining activities.
