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Boko Haram Suspected in Attacks That Kill at Least 40 in Nigeria, Police Say


Nigerian authorities said on Nov. 1, 2023, that suspected Boko Haram militants killed at least 40 people in Yobe state on Oct. 30 and 31.
Nigerian authorities said on Nov. 1, 2023, that suspected Boko Haram militants killed at least 40 people in Yobe state on Oct. 30 and 31.

At least 40 people were killed in Nigeria's Yobe state from Monday into Tuesday after suspected Boko Haram militants shot at villagers and set off a land mine, in the first major attack on the northeastern state in 18 months, the police said on Wednesday.

The attack happened about 8:30 p.m. Monday, at Gurokayeya village, Gaidam local government in Yobe, the state's police spokesperson Abdulkarim Dungus said.

He said that gunmen opened fire on villagers, killing at least 17 people, and that on Tuesday a land mine exploded, killing at least 20 villagers who were returning from burying victims of the previous attack.

The Islamist group has been killing and abducting villagers in Borno state, a hotbed for militancy that has been the epicenter of a 14-year war on insurgency in Nigeria.

President Bola Tinubu and his Cabinet on Monday approved a $2.8 billion supplementary budget to fund "urgent issues," including defense and security.

Tinubu, preoccupied with the economy, has yet to disclose how he would tackle insurgency in the north and widespread insecurity in other parts of the country.

The Yobe community had been at peace for over a year before this attack, residents said. The last time a bomb exploded in Yobe state was in April 2022.

Lawan Ahmed, a resident, told Reuters the militants shot at villagers sporadically from motorbikes, killing about 17 people on Monday.

Ahmed said that the same insurgents on Tuesday attempted to eliminate those who had gone to the burial on Monday, killing more than 20 people.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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