Terrorists of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) 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.
The herdsmen were killed on Tuesday because they allegedly trespassed 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.
According to sources, 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.
It was gathered 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.
