A school, a health center and a military base located in the Nigerian state of Yobe (northeast) have been attacked and burned by suspected members of the jihadist group Boko Haram, as confirmed Wednesday by residents, with no casualties reported for the moment.
The attack was perpetrated in the community of Katarko, located in the area of Gujba, according to local sources quoted by the Nigerian newspaper ‘Vanguard’, which indicated that part of the population fled into a wooded area to try to escape the attackers.
Fantami Kura, a resident, has related that the attackers stormed the locality when the population was heading to the mosque for afternoon prayers. “We saw the gunmen and immediately alerted our people to run into the bushes for safety,” he added.
Boko Haram has not commented on the incident, which came amid a spike in assaults on schools and kidnappings of students and education personnel in several parts of the African country.
Authorities in countries in the region use the name Boko Haram to refer interchangeably to the faction led by Abubakar Shekau and its offshoot, Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA).
The United Nations on Tuesday appealed for $1 billion (about 840 million euros) to deliver humanitarian aid to 6.4 million people in northeastern Nigeria, rocked by a surge in attacks by Boko Haram and ISWA.
