In a tragic event, more than 40 farmers were killed, and many others are missing after Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists attacked Dumba, a farming settlement in Kukawa Local Government Area, Borno State, Nigeria.
The attack happened on Sunday, January 12, at around 3 PM. Survivors from the area said the terrorists arrived with advanced weapons, rounded up the farmers, and warned them against farming. The attackers claimed farming was still banned in the region and announced they would kill anyone found farming. After issuing the warning, they opened fire on the farmers.
“We are the people farming at Dumba. Today (Sunday), the terrorists came and met us in the area. They chased us out of the farm and said that they had not lifted the ban on farming in the area. They said any farmer found in the area henceforth would be k!lled.
They k!lled many of our farmers. It was in the night that we ran to soldiers and Civilian Joint Taskforce (CJTF) members who assisted in taking us to a safer place.
We were farming together with those killed, God saved me. The dead bodies that I counted were about 40 of them. The rest that were shot in the bush and those that escaped with gunshot wounds could not be accounted for,” he narrated.
One of the survivors, who managed to escape unharmed, shared that similar attacks have occurred in the past but often go unreported. A member of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), who was involved in rescuing survivors, revealed that terrorists regularly target farmers and fishermen in the Kukawa area. He said these attacks have made life extremely difficult for people in the community.
“It was around 3pm that the attack occured, and it was around 5pm that the survivors reached us. We used boat to ferry them to a safer place together with the help from the military. About 200 of them that escaped were rescued. They told us that over 40 of them were killed. They are mostly fishermen and crop farmers,” said the CJTF member.
Dumba, located just 7 kilometers from the well-known Baga fishing community, is a significant area for farming and fishing due to its riverine location. However, ongoing violence continues to disrupt lives and livelihoods in the region, forcing residents to live in constant fear.
