
New Delhi:
Fundamentalists have attacked and killed 40 farmers in Nigeria’s north-eastern Borno state. Borno state information commissioner Usman Tarr said in a statement that fighters from the Islamic State-affiliated Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) surrounded and shot dead several farmers in Dumba, on the banks of Lake Chad, late Sunday night.
Usman Tar said, “Initial reports indicate that around 40 farmers have been killed, while the whereabouts of many farmers who survived the attack are being traced to reunite them with their families.”
He said the state government has ordered troops fighting jihadists in the region to “track down and eliminate rebel elements” operating around their areas in Doumba and the wider Lake Chad region.
The farmers violated safe limits set by soldiers for farming and fishing in the area, which is a sanctuary for ISWAP and its rival Boko Haram militants and is full of landmines, the commissioner said.
Lake Chad, which spans Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad, serves as a base for Boko Haram and ISWAP. They use it as a base to launch attacks on countries.
Claim of more than 100 people killed in the attack
According to Nigerian intelligence reports, “casualties could exceed 100 people killed in the attack.” ISWAP fighters have been held responsible for this.
According to the anti-jihadist militia, the farmers had come from the Gwoza region on the border with Cameroon to cultivate cowpeas and onions along the freshwater lake.
“The farmers had made a deal with Boko Haram to farm in Quatre Yobe and Tudun Kanta near Dumba on the lake shore,” said Babakura Kolo, a militia leader. They did not know that Lake Chad is demarcated between ISWAP and Boko Haram. “While Boko Haram controls the islands in the lake, ISWAP controls areas on the shores.”
ISWAP takes levy from farmers, fishermen and herders
He said ISWAP attacked the farmers as punishment for encroaching on their territory without permission. They usually collect levies from farmers, fishermen and herders who want to work in the areas under their control.
ISWAP and Boko Haram have been locked in a deadly infighting for territorial control since they split over ideological differences in 2016, leading to the death of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau during clashes in May 2021.
ISWAP ousted Boko Haram from its traditional Sambisa Forest stronghold, forcing rival militants to retreat to islands on the Niger side of Lake Chad.
“ISWAP fighters became angry after learning that farmers had paid Boko Haram to farm in the area. They decided to punish them by rounding them up and shooting at them,” Kolo said.
He described the death toll given by TAR as significantly low. Colo said the number of casualties was much higher than that number. He said, “We are talking about more than 100 people being killed in the attack.”
Sallau Arzika, a fisherman from Baga who agreed with Kolo’s casualty count, said farmers had taken an unnecessary risk by striking a deal with the jihadists.
ISWAP and Boko Haram are targeting farmers, fishermen, loggers, herders and scrap collectors. They have also been accused of spying and giving information to the army and local militia fighting against them.
More than 40,000 people have been killed and nearly two million displaced from their homes in the jihadist conflict in Nigeria’s northeast since 2009.