英语文摘:40 killed in attacks on Nigerian villages

ABUJA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- A total of 40 people have been confirmed dead in attacks by suspected Boko Haram fighters who unleashed terror in two villages of the northern state of Borno in Nigeria, a government official said on Monday.

In Gulumba Town of northeastern Borno State, 27 people were shot dead while 300 houses were set ablaze when insurgents attacked a village and injured 12 others last Thursday, Baba Shehu Gulumba, chairman of Bama local government area told reporters.

He cited crappy telecommunication network in the volatile northeast states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, due to attacks by insurgents, as reason the news of the incident got late to the public.

According to Gulumba, the attackers who invaded the town, rode on motorcycles and drove a Toyota Hilux van while shooting sporadically.

"The information we got also indicated that 20 shops and 15 vehicles were razed," he said.

In a separate attack on Saturday morning, the government official said 13 other people were waylaid at a T-junction along Banki road in the northeastern state.

The victims of Saturday attack were passengers of a commuter bus plying the road, he added.

Cases of road attacks have recently increased in Borno State, where at least 30 people including a bridegroom and his family members were killed in an attack by gunmen who laid ambush along a highway linking neighboring Adamawa on Sunday.

Exactly two weeks ago, more than 10 people were gruesomely killed on a highway by suspected members of the Boko Haram sect in the northern state, which borders Cameroon.

The Boko Haram sect has proved the biggest security threat in the West African country since launching the insurgency in 2009. It seeks to enshrine the Islamic sharia law into the constitution and declares war against the Western education.