Boko Haram kills many in Borno’s Mainok village market

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About a dozen traders were reportedly killed Friday at a market in Mainok village of Kaga local government of Borno state when Boko Haram terrorists attacked. 

Witnesses and security operatives said a large number of Boko Haram terrorists invaded the town Friday afternoon and began shooting sporadically.

Many people were killed in the process while several others were seriously injured. 

The terrorists’  main target, according to PREMIUM TIMES findings, were villagers from Jakana, which is about 16 kilometres away from Mainok and about 50 kilometres from Maiduguri. 

Mainok, located some 65 kilometres west of Maiduguri, has a rural market holding every Friday and usually draws large population of traders from far and near who converge to buy and sell all kinds of farm produce – mostly grains as well as animals like cattle, sheep and goats.

The Boko Haram sect had on September 19 attacked the market in similar manner, killing about 36 traders. 

A trader, Buji  Muhammed, told journalists in Maiduguri he was lucky to have escaped the Friday attack.

“In short I was really lucky that I was not in the centre of the market  when the attack started and Boko Haram were busy shooting into the market. Instantly, many people were killed by gunshots as bullets hit them from all angle. I had to lie down on the floor and began to crawl vastly out of the market until I saw a pickup van driver who was trying to escape with his vehicle; I had to summon courage and stood up to run and jumped into the back of the pickup and that was how I and some other persons who also entered the pickup van  were able to escape,” he said. 

A police officer  in Jakana village, which is just about 16 kilometres away from the attacked market, confirmed to journalists on phone that many traders died during the attack. 

“We saw many traders running into Jakana from Mainok,  some with minor injuries, and they informed us that many people were killed,” said the police officer, who asked not to be named. 

“After they shot severally into the market,  they surrounded the market and began to do selective killing especially of traders that are from Jakana, they said some of the terrorists were heard shouting and instructing their colleagues not to spare people from Jakana. 

He said the Boko Haram terrorists were picking on traders from Jakana “because they had in the past suffered the lost of many of their members in Jakana following their repeated failure to take over the village.

“We the police and soldiers that are stationed here usually get the cooperation of the local people who would quickly feed us with useful information as soon as they hear about any plan to  attack the town,” the police officer said. 

Details of the actual casualty suffered in the market attack as well as the outcome of the military rescue mission to the area were still sketchy at the time of filing this report.