No fewer than 32 civilians were buried yesterday in Mafa village of Borno state after gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram terrorists attacked on Sunday night, security sources and eyewitnesses said.
Three police officers also died during the nocturnal attack.
The attack on Mafa was however forewarned as a Senator representing Borno Central, Ahmed Zannah, told newsmen that most of the residents especially women and children had fled the town for about a week now.
A resident of Mafa, Modu Yuraim, who survived the attack, told newsmen on phone that they have performed the burial of 32 persons, among them was a woman.
Borno state Police Commissioner, Lawan Tanko, confirmed the attack but said he has no details of casualty as at the time of speaking to newsmen.
But the Senator who also spoke to journalists on phone said
”A bomb exploded yesterday morning and two policemen were killed while trying to evacuate injured victims. I have officially received a detailed report from my constituents in Mafa that 29 people among which was a woman died during the attack.”
Modu Yuraim said the attackers came in various vehicles at about 8pm and began to shoot sporadically, and most of the houses which were of thatched roofs caught fire.
“They have set on fire the entire village, sparing nothing. All houses, all shops and government buildings were razed down completely; we have been devastated beyond what one can describe”.
247ureports.com gathered that despite the forewarned attack on the village, soldiers deployed could not save the villagers from the attackers.
Senator Ahmed Zannah, said “I was reliably informed by my people that all the soldiers in Mafa fled during the attack because they could not stand the superior weapons of the Boko-Haram “.
The Senator said the military authorities in Borno state had officially informed government of Borno state that they could not account for seven security personnel deployed to Mafa.
When our reporters visited Muna motor park where travelers usually board vehicles to and from Maiduguri, many villagers who had long fled the village were seen in confused mood as they were trying to get news about some of their relatives in the village during the attack.
Mafa, a scanty an agrarian community is about 45m east of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.
