18 shot dead in Borno market massacre

No fewer than 18 people have been shot dead in a local market in Damboa, South of Borno by gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect even as the town was deserted yesterday, being the second day of the deadly attack. Sources said the victims, mostly local hunters were at the Damboa market on Monday, being the market day to sell wild pigs and monkeys when the gunmen stormed the area and opened fired on them.
“The market was thrown into confusion as everybody ran helter skelter,” a resident hinted. Damboa, Headquarters of Damboa Local Government is about 90 kilometres away from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. Borno State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Zanna Umar Mustapha, who was on his way from Biu, along same road and about 100 kilometres away from Damboa, the centre of the attack, on condolence visit was forced to stop in the town having observed that the entire area was deserted with the presence of military personnel in the town.
Briefing the deputy governor, who came to inquire about the unusual quietness of the bustling community, the District Head of Damboa, Alhaji Abba Ahmed said the gunmen came to the market on Monday afternoon at the peak of business activities and drove straight to the spot where local hunters were selling bush meat, opened fire on them and fled. Alhaji Ahmed disclosed that 18 of the local hunters were shot, adding that 13 died on the spot while five died later in the hospital.
He said the hunters were engaged in the business of selling bush meat especially wild pigs and monkeys, stressing that residents claimed some unknown persons had earlier warned the local hunters against selling the type of the bush meats apparently for religious reasons.
The district head also said reports from eyewitnesses indicated that the gunmen were not residents of the town but assailants who rode to the market in a Golf car, carried out the attack and disappeared.