Gunmen suspected to be terrorists of the Caliphate in the West Africa Province otherwise known as ISWAP has gruesomely killed 34 muslim worshippers in Mafa village, Tarmuwa LGA of Yobe.
Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency publication focused on the Lake Chad region, said the attack occurred during Magrib prayer, when the gunmen shot sporadically into the gathering.
“Terrorists gruesomely rigged the corpses with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), setting a deadly trap for first responders or security personnel who might approach the scene,” the report reads.
Makama added that the gunmen also laid multiple explosives on the path to the village for military vehicles.
Intelligence sources told the publication that the attack was a likely retaliation for the community’s failure to pay terrorist dues.
However, ISWAP on Tuesday has claimed responsibility for the attack that led the killing of the worshippers in Yobe State.
There are reports that authorities in Yobe are planning a mass burial for the victims of the attack.
Dungus Abdulkarim, Yobe police spokesperson, said gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram insurgents looted and set ablaze shops and houses in Mafa village, Tarmuwa LGA.
Abdulkarim said the gunmen killed an unspecified number of people, adding that they also dropped some fliers with Arabic inscriptions.
In a letter released by the insurgents, the insurgent group claimed responsibility for the attack.
It said the village was attacked for allegedly providing information to the military, which led to the killing of its members.
The letter reads: “This is a message from the soldiers of the Caliphate in the West Africa Province to the leaders, mukhtars, and the rest of the residents and farmers in the town of Mafa and the villages around it.”
“You have been tempted to remain in your countries in safety. The soldiers of the Caliphate will not harm you, nor threaten you with your money, nor hinder you from any activity of yours, whether agriculture, trade, etc., until you have arrogantly raised yourselves to a position in which you believe that your hands will reach our brothers with harm and remain uninterrupted.
“You have harmed our brothers in the past days in the town of (Bangaro) and its environs, and you cooperated and sympathized with the apostates in killing our brothers, and when we arrived in the area, we did not harm you.
“Rather, we limited ourselves to those whose hands were stained with the blood of our brothers, and who were attacked by their weapons, according to the information we found.
We thought that by doing so we had warned you with the language of war, hoping that you would be deterred.”
