From HASSAN JIRGI Maiduguri
Islamic State-West Africa Province, ISWAP, has ordered residents to vacate Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State or risk being killed.
A residents of the town told AljazirahNigeria that many residents had fled their homes as ISWAP threatened that failure to adhere to their ultimatum in a week would mean facing the terror of death.
Another resident said the terrorists gathered residents of various communities in the early hours of Friday and commanded them to leave their homes before Saturday or risk being killed. They said the deadline is Saturday, starting from today.
“If we don’t leave the area by Saturday, we will face the consequences. Many have left for Monguno and we are leaving tomorrow,” a source disclosed to our correspondent.
Another resident who does not want his name mentioned said they are not going anywhere, adding that it is better to stay with terrorists than to go back to starvation in Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, camps.
Speaking to our correspondent, a youth in the area, Bukar Modu said immediately they received the threat from the terrorists, residents started vacating their communities.
He said while some moved to Kross Kauwa, others left for Monguno.
“They claimed they wanted to preach to us and we were deceived. Instead, they gathered us and their commander ordered our execution. They accused us of betrayal, saying some among us were spying for enemies.
“ISWAP opened fire on us. Over 40 people were killed and at least 35 escaped. One of the terrorists was punished by their commander for allowing some of us to flee.
“Some of the people have returned home, more than 30 persons are still missing. We don’t know if they are alive or dead,” Modu said.
The residents had lived together with ISWAP terrorists for over a year until the conflict that led to Sunday’s killing, a source said.
They appealed to security agencies to take action to protect the community and prevent further attacks.
AlhazirahNigeria learnt that this notice came barely a week after ISWAP terrorists killed 35 fishermen in Tubum Rogo community, leaving 25 others injured with 30 missing.
