About 60 persons were killed by suspected members of Boko Haram sect in Anchaka and neighbouring communities in Bama Local Government Area of Borno, chairman of the council, Alhaji Baba Shehu, said yesterday.

Speaking with journalists in the state capital, Maiduguri, Shehu also lamented that several other persons were injured in the attacks.

He disclosed that the attackers invaded the communities in the early morning of Saturday in motorbikes before embarking on the mass destruction.

“The attackers invaded the communities early in the morning on motorbikes while residents were still sleeping. They set ablaze houses and shot residents who tried to escaped from the fire,” Shehu said.

He added: “About 60 persons were confirmed dead after the incident, with several others injured.

“Almost all the houses in the communities were destroyed by the hoodlums who threw Improvised Explosive Devise (IED) at the buildings.”

Shehu said that the attackers also destroyed the newly renovated motorised boreholes provided by the LGA to provide water for the communities.

He added that residents of the communities had fled to Maiduguri for fear of another attacks by the invaders.

“It is really a terrible situation, we had wanted to rush relief materials to the area to provide temporary succor to the victims. But we were prevailed upon by security agents to shelve our plans for security reasons,” Shehu said.

He appealed to the federal and the state government to assist the LGA with resources towards rehabilitating the victims.

Meanwhile, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 2, Mamman Tsafe, weekend, claimed that the refusal of governors to provide required support for security agencies, was responsible for the continued mayhem by the Boko Haram insurgents in parts of the country.

The AIG spoke in Abeokuta, Ogun State, during the inauguration of an ultra-modern secretariat built by the Police Officers’ Wives Association (POWA), Ogun State Command.

Tsafe implored Nigerians to improve their level of security consciousness to curb violent crimes in the country.

He urged state governors to place premium on providing logistics support for the Nigeria Police to combat security challenges in the country and commended Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State and his Lagos State counterpart, Babatunde Fashola, for providing patrol vehicles and other logistics to enhance effective policing in both states.

He said: “I call on other governors to give the police the required support so that they can have the peace we are having in these states. In fact, if all governors are committed, all these insurgent situations will be taken care of. I commend their level of security consciousness but they only need to improve on it and that would make their abodes safer.”

•Pieced together from reports in THISDAY and Vanguard. Photo shows scene of a Boko Haram operation.

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