Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) this afternoon confirmed that a total of 65 persons lost their lives and 136 persons were injured following the weekend attacks on Dalori village by Boko Haram insurgents. Independent sources earlier put the death toll at around 100 while the Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) said 85 people were killed in the onslaught.

Dalori, which is less than 10km from Maiduguri, capital of Borno State in the troubled North-East, came under the attack on Saturday evening.

“NEMA’s Emergency Response Team immediately mobilised for rescue along with others that include Police Anti bomb Squad, NSCDC, Nigerian Army, and Federal Road Safety Corps and Nigerian Red Cross,” the agency’s Snr. Information Officer, Sani Datti said.

According to Datti in a statement, a copy of which was made available to News Express, “Victims were evacuated to Umaru Shehu Hospital, University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital and Borno General Hospital for medical attention where 40 persons were confirmed dead. However the community buried 25 deaths beside those that were taken to the hospitals. 136 persons were injured in the attacks.

“The insurgents came into the village and started shooting sporadically. This put the villagers and the neighbourhood into pandemonium and started running helter-skelter.

“Some of the villagers that succeeded in moving out including those in the nearby IDPs camp (Dalori Camp II) converged under a big three where people normally gathered in the evening to do menial trading activities. Unknown to them one of the suicide bombers sneaked into the midst of the gathering and detonated explosive devices killing scores of people and injuring many.”

•Photo shows some of the hospitalised victims of the Dalori attack.