At least 81 dead in attack on village in northeast of country

At least 81 people have been killed and others are missing after a jihadist attack in Mafa, northeastern Nigeria, according to the spokesman for the Tarmuwa local government chairman. According to the Yobe state police, about 150 suspected Boko Haram members, armed with firearms and grenades, attacked the village of Mafa on motorcycles on Sunday, September 1, around 4 p.m.

“We believe this is retaliation for the killing of two Boko Haram terrorists by village vigilante groups.”the police spokesman told AFP. The jihadists have repeatedly accused the inhabitants of Mafa of helping the army in its operations against Boko Haram.

Villages in Yobe State, mostly made up of farmers and herders, are often looted or extorted by jihadists from Boko Haram and its rival faction, the Islamic State in West Africa. The jihadists have stepped up attacks in recent years in the north of the country on farmers, loggers, herders and fishermen, whom they accuse of providing information to the army and local militias fighting them.