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Eight Killed, Women Kidnapped, Houses Burnt In Boko Haram Attack On IDP Camp

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Tuesday, November 6th, 2018
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The United Nations office in Nigeria on Thursday issued a statement condemning an attack on an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Maiduguri during which at least eight persons were killed and some women abducted by suspected Boko Haram gunmen.

The incident which occurred Wednesday night is one of the deadliest attacks on civilians, and one of the closest to the city of Maiduguri in recent times.

Internally Displaced Persons Camp.
Internally Displaced Persons Camp.

Attacks by suspected Boko Haram members have lately become frequent around Maiduguri as farmers who try to harvest their crops are either shot dead or beheaded.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, in a statement issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) condemned what he described as “a deadly attack that took place on 31 October in a camp for internally displaced people just a few kilometers from Borno State capital Maiduguri”.

According to the UN, the camp “hosts 12,600 civilians who are seeking refuge there after having fled the violence in north-east Nigeria in past months”.

The statement issued by Samantha Newport, OCHA’s head of communication, said Boko Haram: “carried out the attack on the camp adjacent to Dalori village and on four surrounding communities after dark, killing at least eight people and injuring dozens more, kidnapping women, and burning and looting homes, shelters and food stocks. Hundreds have also been displaced as a result, according to the National Emergency Management Agency”.

The agency wants the Nigerian government to improve on its duty of protecting the people from such hostilities.

“I urge the Government of Nigeria to step up the protection of innocent people,” said Mr Kallon.

“Attacks on camps for internally displaced people threaten these innocent women, children and men who have already fled their homes as a result of the ongoing conflict. Our deepest condolences go to the families of the victims of this attack and we wish the injured a speedy recovery.

“The attack took place in one of the nine camps for internally displaced people in Dalori; the camps were set up from 2015 and are now home to 47,500 civilians.

“More than 20 aid organisations are providing assistance including food, safe water, sanitation, medicine and shelter to thousands of people. In January 2016, a non-state armed group attack Dalori village, killing more than 100 people and burning most of the village down.”

The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Nigeria’s North-east has spilled over into the Lake Chad region, and has been rated one of the most severe in the world today.

About 7.7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in 2018 especially in the worst-affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, and 6.1 million targeted for humanitarian assistance.

A UN report said “more than 27,000 people have been killed in the three states, thousands of women and girls abducted and children used as so-called ‘suicide’ bombers, since the start of the conflict in 2009′.

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