Boko Haram fighters kill 13 farmers in central Nigeria

Suspected Boko Haram fighters have killed 13 farmers in central Nigeria, United Nations and security sources told AFP on Thursday.

The attack in Niger state highlights how extremists from the country’s northeast are increasingly forging links with criminal gangs in central and northwest Nigeria.

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The gunmen entered the Anguwan Mai-Giro community in Shiroro district on motorbikes on Wednesday and opened fire on farm workers, killing three women, the sources told AFP.

Bologi Ibrahim, spokesman for the governor of Niger state, condemned the attack and blamed gunmen from the “underworld”, without saying how many people had been killed.

A security source and a UN official working in the region told AFP that 13 people had been killed and that Boko Haram extremists were responsible.

“The attackers were clearly Boko Haram terrorists and they killed 13 people who worked on a private farm outside the village of Magami,” the security source told AFP.

“Most of the victims were shot in the head, indicating that the terrorists attacked to kill,” added the same source, who asked to remain anonymous.

Boko Haram and other extremist groups have waged a 15-year insurgency in northeastern Nigeria, killing more than 40,000 people.

Central and northwestern Nigeria have been plagued for years by gangs of criminals known as “bandits,” who have been pillaging villages, killing and kidnapping residents, and burning homes after looting them.

Working with these gangs, extremist groups have gained a foothold in central Niger state, officials and analysts say, having previously seized villages and set up camps in the area near where the attack took place.

In April, Boko Haram fighters killed two soldiers and vigilantes protecting the nearby village of Allawa. The troops were subsequently withdrawn from the village, forcing residents to flee in fear of attack.

According to a UN source, the victims of Wednesday’s raid were residents of Allawa who were displaced six months ago.

“They fled their homes to escape the insurgents but were eventually killed by the same people they were trying to avoid,” the source said.

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