Borno Massacre: DHQ Says Only 43 Farmers Killed, Faults UN Report

The Defence Headquarters,  has faulted a report by the United Nations that 110 civilians were killed by Boko Haram in Saturday onslaught on farmers in the Jere Local Government Area of Borno State.

Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. John Enenche, said as of Monday morning, 43 corpses were recovered from the incident scene in the Zabarmari area of the northeast state.

The terrorists were reported to have tied up the farmers, who were working on rice fields, before slitting their throats.

On Sunday, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, disclosed that at least 110 persons died in the horrific attack.

But reacting on Monday morning, Enenche said the troops counted the corpses together with the locals and 43 deaths were recorded.

He spoke while featuring on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.

Enenche, however, explained that he contacted the field commandants and “they gave me a synopsis of what happened. When the governor was to go (to the scene) and after they had recovered the dead, the troops had to move in there and they counted 43.

The DHQ Coordinator said the search for more remains of victims is still on but insisted that 43 corpses were retrieved from the scene as of today.

The massacre of the rice farmers, who were buried yesterday, has attracted strong international and national condemnations with some Nigerians calling on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to sack the country’s service chiefs and overhaul the security architecture of Nigeria.