Kano - Boko Haram gunmen have mounted their first attacks
since Nigeria's government declared them "technically" defeated, killing
seven people in a raid and suicide bombing, residents told AFP on Wednesday.
The attacks happened on Tuesday in the northeastern state
of Borno, near the Islamists' Sambisa Forest hideout, where the army is looking
to flush out remnants of the rebel group.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who has made crushing the
rebellion a priority, in December said a sustained counter-offensive had
reduced the group's ability to strike effectively.
The first attack happened in Izgeki village, said one
resident, who gave his name as Isyaku, from the town of Mubi in neighbouring
Adamawa state.
"I received information from my relatives who fled
the attack... that some Boko Haram gunmen on bicycles attacked Izgeki across
the river from Izghe on Tuesday morning where they killed two people.
"The attack forced villagers to cross the river into
Izghe. The gunmen pursued them. One of them who had a suicide belt on him blew
himself up near the market, killing five people."
Izghe was previously attacked in February 2014 where more
than 100 people were killed as the rebels torched homes, opened fire and set
off explosives.
Thousands of residents fled the attack into Adamawa
towards the town of Madagali and elsewhere but following the army's recapture
of territory, some managed to return and begin reconstruction.
Izghe is in the district of Gwoza, which Boko Haram
captured in August 2014 and which the group's shadowy leader Abubakar Shekau
declared the centre of its self-styled caliphate.
Ayuba Chibok, an elder in the town of the same name, said
there was also an attack in the nearby village of Nchiha at about 22:00 (21:00
GMT) on Tuesday.
"Luckily no-one was hurt but they [Boko Haram gunmen]
looted food and burnt a large part of the village," he added. Residents
managed to flee.
Boko Haram kidnapped about 276 girls from their school in
Chibok in April 2014 in a daring raid that captured world attention.
Fifty seven escaped soon afterwards but 219 are still
being held.
