14 Left Dead In Jihadist Attack

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) have reported that at least 14 people died while thousands fled during a Boko Haram attack in a remote town in northeast Nigeria.

The medical charity also said the attack on Monday at Rann, in Borno state near the border with Cameroon has destroyed some of its facilities which would affect humanitarian operations.

Fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) faction of Boko Haram targeted a military base in the town and torched buildings as they left. MSF’s emergency programme manager, Hughes Robert, said a small team returned to Rann on Tuesday to assess the damage, and described the situation on the ground as “chaotic”.

“The figures we got yesterday from people who have been there were 14 people died in which 3 of the dead people were soldiers,” he told AFP by phone from Geneva.

Military and humanitarian sources said on Tuesday that seven people were killed, including three soldiers.

Rann, which is some 175 kilometers (110 miles) northeast of the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, has now been hit three times since March last year.

The first attack killed three aid workers and saw three others kidnapped. Two of the three were later executed. The last attack happened in early December.

The raids are part of a wider pattern of assaults on military positions in northern Borno, which the United Nations has warned is increasingly affecting civilians.

More than 27,000 people have been killed since the Islamist insurgency began in 2009 while some 1.8 million people are still homeless and in need of humanitarian assistance.

Nigeria’s government and military have repeatedly insisted Boko Haram is a spent force and over the last year has encouraged internally displaced people (IDPs) to return.

The UN last week said attacks in and around the Baga area, also in northern Borno, had forced more than 30,000 people to flee, mostly to Maiduguri, putting extra strain on resources.

Some 35,000 IDPs were in Rann at the time of the attack. MSF’s Robert said about 10,000 had fled to the border.

It was reported by Another aid worker in Maiduguri, who asked not to be identified, that many of the thousands went to the town of Bodo, and would be taken to a camp in Ngala.