Boko Haram militants kill dozens in latest Nigeria attacks

Suspected Islamist Boko Haram gunmen rampaged through three villages in northern Nigeria, killing 28 people and burning houses to the ground in a pattern of violence that has become almost a daily occurrence, according to police and witnesses. All three attacks happened on Thursday in remote parts of Borno state, the epicentre of Boko Haram’s increasingly bloody struggle for an Islamic kingdom in religiously mixed Nigeria. One took place right next to Chibok, by the Cameroon border, from where more than 200 school girls were abducted last month. The most deadly was in the town of Kerenua, near the Niger border. Scores of militants opened fire on residents, killing 20 of them, and burned houses, a police source said. Since the girls’ abduction on April 14, at least 450 civilians have been killed by the group. A spate of bombings across north and central Nigeria has killed hundreds, including two in the capital Abuja and one in the central city of Jos on Tuesday that killed 118 people. In a sign Jos could be targeted again, a suicide bombing on Saturday that was meant to target an open air viewing of a football match in the central Nigerian city of Jos killed at least eight people before reaching its target, a witness told the media. The bomber approached Jos Viewing Centre while people were watching Real Madrid play Atletico Madrid, but failed to get there before his car exploded, Mohammed Shittu, a local journalist at the scene said. The source said some phone signals to the militants had been tracked to Niger itself, suggesting they may have been directed from there. Dozens had been wounded by bullets, he said. Another attack occurred in a small village of Kubur Viu, a few kilometres away from Chibok, resident Simeon Yhana said. The police source concurred with the attack and toll.