40 people have been feared dead in Gurokayeya village of the Gaidam Local Government Area of Yobe State by suspected Boko Haram insurgents.
News About Nigeria reports that 20 persons were attacked and killed by the suspected insurgents on Monday, and another 20 were killed on Tuesday in a fresh attack by an explosive device suspected to have been planted by the insurgents.
Residents have, however, linked the killings to the inability of the farmers in the community to pay taxes to the insurgents on their harvest.
Recounting the ugly incident, a native said the insurgents had stormed the village, gathered the residents on the outskirts of the village and opened fire on them.
According to him, over 17 people died on the spot on Monday. The other 20 were among those who drove from Gaidam and neighbouring villages to the affected village for the burial of the first 20 on Tuesday.
He recounted that the second 30 victims had driven over an explosive planted by the insurgents while driving back home.
“10 died on the spot and about 10 died at the Gaidam Primary Health Care Centre where they were rushed to after the accident,” he said.
The Yobe State Police Command spokesman, Dungus Abdulkarim, has, however, confirmed the two incidents.
He disclosed that two of those who sustained severe injuries are now receiving treatment at the Gaidam PHC, and two others now at the Yobe State University Teaching Hospital, Damaturu.
Condemning the attack, he described the village as a stronghold of Boko Haram insurgents, disclosing that troops had even tagged the area as a ‘no-go area.’
According to him, security agents stormed the locality after obtaining information from the locals and engaged the unsuspecting insurgents in a serious gunfire exchange, as a result of which two of the gunmen were killed and four were arrested, as many escaped with gun wounds.
