70 dead in three Boko Haram attacks

Suspected Boko Haram militants have killed 70
people in three attacks in the Northeast in
recent days, officials said yesterday.
Boko Haram has killed hundreds of civilians
and members of security forces in recent
weeks, as it continues to resist an intensified
military crackdown ordered by President
Goodluck Jonathan more than five months ago.
Gunmen fired on a convoy of people returning
from a wedding party in Borno state on
Saturday, killing 30 people, including the
groom, said Ahmad Sajo, spokesman for
neighboring Adamawa state. The military said
only five were killed.
In Borno's Gulumba village, gunmen on
motorbikes and in a pick-up truck shot dead
27 people and wounded another 12 in the
early hours of Thursday, the Chairman of Bama
Local Government, Baba Shehu Gulumba, told
reporters.
Gulumba said a further 13 people were killed
on Saturday in a similar attack in nearby T-
Junction village.
Insurgents also set houses ablaze and stole
motorbikes, cars, livestock and 3.5 million
naira ($22,100), he said.
President Jonathan declared a state of
emergency in three northeastern states in May
and a military surge initially reduced attacks in
major towns and cities across the north.
But Boko Haram's fighters have retreated to
the semi-arid region towards Niger in the
north and to the forested hills and caves on
the border with Cameroon, where they have
been able to regroup and counter-attack ever
since.