Borno Boko Haram Attack: Death toll now 87

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE  20th Sept. 2013

Death toll in last Tuesday’s Boko Haram attack on Beneshiek has risen to 87. Following the gruesome attack by the terrorists, who disguised in military uniforms, 23 persons were reported killed while several others were declared missing.An official of Borno State Environment Protection Agency, Mallam Saidu Yakubu, however, confirmed yesterday that “87 bodies were recovered in the bush and our people are still searching for more.”Saidu disclosed this to newsmen when he accompanied Governor Kashim Shettima to the scene of the massacre.Meanwhile, Islamist insurgents have rampaged through a town in Yobe State with heavy weapons, setting public buildings on fire and killing a soldier and the wife of a senior policeman, authorities said yesterday.The Wednesday attack was the latest carnage to hit the region, which has seen an upsurge in violence in recent days.Armed with Kalashnikovs, rocket launchers and home-made bombs, the terrorists stormed Yadi Buni in Yobe State around 10:00p.m., leading to a shootout with troops in which a soldier was killed, state Police Commissioner Sanusi Rufa’i said.They set fire to a makeshift police station, the fire service, a local education office and the home of the divisional police head in the town, whose wife was burnt to death, Rufa’i said.He said: “Buni Yadi was attacked last night by Boko Haram insurgents. A soldier was killed in a shoot-out and the wife of the Divisional Police Officer was burnt to death in her home.”Telecom towers in the town were also burnt by the Islamists, the police commissioner said.It was the second time Buni Yadi was attacked by Boko Haram in as many months.Scores of people have been left dead in recent days from military raids or Boko Haram attacks.The military claimed, Wednesday, that a strike on a Boko Haram camp in the north-east last week left about 150 Islamists and 16 soldiers dead, amid reports of dozens of troops killed.On Tuesday night, suspected Boko Haram members dressed as soldiers set up checkpoints in the Benishiek area, killing an unclear number of people and burning some 50 buildings.