No fewer than 13 rice farmers were reportedly killed by suspected members of the terrorist group, Boko Haram, in Mafa Local Government, Borno State, North-east Nigeria.
Residents of the area said apart from the 13 farmers already confirmed dead many others are still unaccounted for.
Some relations of the victims told PREMIUM TIMES that the attack happened on Sunday evening while the farmers were harvesting their crops at Karkut and Koshebe villages.
The source disclosed on Monday that the terrorists slaughtered their victims with knives.
“We are in deepest sorrow over the killing of our people in Karkut and Koshebe. The security operatives and the JTF are doing their best to recover the missing persons in the bush.
“But at the moment only 13 remains of the bodies were recovered in the area where the ugly incident took place”, a resident of the area who asked not to be named for safety reasons said.
The terrorists arrived the town on motorcycles and divided themselves into three groups.
The spokesperson of the Borno State Police Command, Nahun Daso, confirmed the incident on Monday.
Mr Daso said the police could not confirm the number of those killed and how they were killed but an investigation into the incident has commenced.
“At the moment a joint investigation between the police and the military had commenced in earnest to unravel the circumstances surrounding the attack”, Mr Daso said.
While the terrorists group has been largely degraded, it’s militants are still carry out attacks in communities across Nigeria’s North-east region.
Last week the terrorists attacked a town in Yobe State killing at least 40 people.
