Twenty-three people have been decapitated in a horrific Boko Haram attack

SUSPECTED Boko Haram gunmen have beheaded 23 people and set fire to homes in Buratai, northeast Nigeria, on the eve of elections on Friday, a federal politician representing the area says. 

“There was an attack on Buratai late Friday by gunmen suspected to be insurgents ... They beheaded 23 people and set homes on fire,” said Mohammed Adamu, who represents the town some 200km from Borno’s capital Maiduguri.

“At least half the village has been burnt,” he added.
The Islamist militants were also suspected of killing at least seven people in separate attacks on Saturday in north-eastern Gombe state, including at polling stations.

Death ... A Nigerian voter casts her ballot in Otuoke on Saturday, March, a day after terrorist group Boko Haram beheaded 23 people.

A nurse at the nearest major hospital, in Biu, said the 32 injured in the Friday attack who were receiving care also reported that many were decapitated during the attack.

Further details of the violence were not immediately available, but the attack is consistent with Boko Haram’s past strikes in the area in the south of the state, where defenceless civilians have been repeatedly targeted.

Bittersweet victory ... Nigerian troops celebrate after taking over Bama from Boko Haram on March 25, but signs of mass killings carried out by Boko Haram earlier this year remain. 

 

It was not clear if the raid late on Friday was linked to Saturday’s polls, but Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had vowed to disrupt the vote.

Elsewhere in Nigeria’s restive northeast, suspected Islamist militants killed at least seven people in separate attacks in the Gombe state.
Witnesses reported that the assailants in Gombe made clear their intention was to disrupt the polls.