Panic As Boko Haram Attacks Borno Again

Many persons were feared killed on
Thursday night as Boko Haram gunmen staged a late evening attack on Rann, the headquarters of Kala Balge local government area of Borno State, sources said.

Witnesses say the village, where hundreds of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and humanitarian workers are camping, suddenly came under serious attack by armed Boko Haram gunmen.

An audio distress message sent out
by a woman working for an international humanitarian organization in the town, confirmed that the village was attacked by terrorists.

There is no telephone service in Rann, but humanitarian workers depend on wifi services provided by their employers to communicate with loved ones via social media platforms that support video or
voice calls.

The said lady had a distressing chat with her male friend whose name was withheld, vetween the hours of 8pm and 9pm.

In her voice message, she informed
her friend in Maiduguri that they were under attack and that they had to run to the nearby military base for protection.

Her last voice chat indicated the
attackers eventually stormed the
military base where her and others were taking refuge and that she was about to be harmed.

Her last message in Hausa was “oh
my God they are now coming in, they are going to kill me…”

A security personnel who asked
not to be named confirmed through the telephone that the attack started at about 7pm.

“We got the report that Rann was
being attacked at about 7pm and
that many persons may have been
affected but no one can clearly say
the number of dead casualty,” the source said.

“We have to wait till morning before one could tell exactly what happened there.”
Rann, a difficult-to-access community about 150km West of Maiduguri, is the Borno village where an air force jet deployed under Operation Lafiya Dole dropped bombs in error on an IDP camp.