More bodies have been recovered in the aftermath of the terrorist attack that occurred at Mafa, a town in Tarmuwa Local Government of Yobe State on Sunday, September 1.
Thirty-Seven new bodies were discovered by the military taking total casualties to 87 villagers, mainly farmers with houses and shops set ablaze.
The village was attacked by insurgents around 4pm when residents were returning from their farms.
The remains of the victims which were moved to Babbangida General Hospital will be given a mass burial today with the Yobe State Deputy Governor, Hon Idi Barde Gubana, leading top government officials to attend the burial at Babbangida Emir’s palace, headquarters of Tarmuwa LG.
“We can categorically say that they killed at least 87 people. Some of them died in the bush, even the military failed to find them.
So far, 37 corpses are in Babbangida General Hospital after the military evacuated them from the affected community while the decomposed corpses would be buried at the scene,” said one of the villagers.
There were indications that the attack might be a retaliation against the villagers for allegedly providing information to the military, which led to the killing of several insurgents last month
“In July, some residents provided intelligence about the terrorists’ activities to the military, which resulted in a successful operation against them. This likely angered the insurgents, leading to the recent attack,” the source said.
Reacting to the incident, the spokesman of the Yobe State Police Command, Dungus Abdulkarim said the attack occurred around 4 p.m. in Mafa.
“The insurgents arrived on over 50 motorcycles, setting shops and houses on fire and killing several people. They also left behind some fliers with Arabic inscriptions,” Abdulkarim said
The Special Adviser to the Yobe State Governor on Security Matters, Brigadier-General Dahiru Abdulsalam (Rtd), also confirmed the attack
He said normalcy had been restored to the community with military presence.