Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists have beheaded 21 herders in the Kukawa axis of Borno State, in what looks like a deliberate target of herdsmen in the North East state.
Jungle Journalist Media Ltd reports that the herdsmen were killed on Tuesday on accusation of trespassing some of terrorists’ hideouts with their cattle.
A counter-insurgency expert in the Lake Chad region, Zagazola Makama, disclosed, yesterday, in Maiduguri that ISWAP fighters recently placed a ban on fishing, farming and grazing in their hideouts.
According to him, the terrorists also accused the herders of spying on them for the Nigerian military and other security agencies in the region.
On how the herders were killed, he said: “The terrorists did not fire any gunshot; they quietly used machetes to behead the 21 herdsmen.”
The terrorists also rustled an unspecified number of cattle into their settlements at the Kukawa-Doro-Kalla axis.
Also, the terrorists in seven-gun trucks intercepted another set of Fulani herdsmen in the Kukawa axis and killed six for the same reason.
A military source in Maiduguri said the herdsmen were killed after they were warned not to graze their cattle on the banned axis of Kukawa, adding that survivors were able to recover four bodies.
The military source told The Guardian that the terrorists also abducted seven Fulani herdsmen in Monguno on Monday and demanded N40 million ransom.
Katsina State Police Command has confirmed the abduction of 14 persons at Modogora community, Batsari Local Council.
The abductees were working on a farm on Tuesday about 9.30a.m. when the armed terrorists stormed the farm on motorcycles.
According to sources, the bandits ferried the abductees, including women and children, into a forest near the community.
The Guardian learnt that the incident was one of four such attacks in separate communities within the council, same day.
The five attacks led to the abduction of about 40 persons, mostly farmers, locals say.
A source familiar with the incident said the other four attacks were carried out on farmlands at Dan Tsuntsu, Nahuta, Salihan Dadare and Zamfarawa communities on Tuesday morning.
Plateau State Commissioner of Police, Bartholomew Onyeka, has lamented the residents’ indifference to security operations, especially their failure to cooperate with the police.
Onyeka said he had sought the cooperation of critical stakeholders since he resumed duty, to enable officers perform well, to no avail.
“We cannot do our job effectively, as nobody is ready to come out to name his brother in crime because he is afraid that the brother may go after him,” he stressed.
The CP stated this, yesterday, at the Police Headquarters in Jos, while addressing journalists on the command’s achievements in the past weeks.
According to Onyeka, the refusal of citizens to volunteer vital information to the police is equally harmful to them, praising the South East, where residents reportedly give prompt information to the police about the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
He said about two weeks ago, IPOB wanted to declare a sit-at-home, but the people informed security operatives, who quickly swung into action and arrested about 26 IPOB men.
“This is the type of information we want. We need your assistance and cooperation. Let us not be dormant,” Onyeka added.
Guardian