Boko Haram: Sect ambushes, kills 24 civilian JTF members in Borno

SUSPECTED members of the Islamist sect, Boko
Haram, ambushed and killed at least 24
members of a youth vigilante group who were
on a mission to find and fight the sect in
Borno State, a security official said yesterday.
Those who returned from Friday’s attack told
officials that 36 other vigilantes were missing,
the official said on condition of anonymity
because he is not permitted to speak to the
media.
“The vigilante youths numbering over 100 were
on a mission to capture some Boko Haram
terrorists in their camps around Kaleri,
Shuwari, Maganari and Nannari villages around
Monguno’s local government area, before they
were ambushed by the terrorists,” he said.
The attack took place somewhere near
Monguno town, 160 kilometers from
Maiduguri, the Borno state capital where the
Boko Haram ideology sprang up some four
years ago.
The vigilante group, known as the Civilian Joint
Task Force, said its attackers were wearing
military uniforms. The official said the Civilian-
JTF usually gets a military escort when it goes
on a search mission but that when the military
did not arrive on time the vigilantes headed
out.
They later told officials they saw three patrol
vehicles painted in camouflage and approached
them thinking they were the escorts. The sect
members then opened fire, killing at least 24
Civilian-JTF members, the security operative
said.
The Civilian-JTF has recently become a target
for Boko Haram . Two attacks one earlier in
the week and the other last weekend killed at
least 20 members of the vigilante group,
residents and an official said.

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