*Aggrieved Nigerian queries operational strategy of security agencies as internal sabotage
A total of 127 killed by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists during their attacks in Mafa ward of Tarmuwa Local Government Area (LGA) of Yobe State, have been buried.
The burial was held after Zuhr prayers on Wednesday in Babbangida Town, headquarters of Tarmuwa LGA of Yobe State.
While a total of 87 people were buried at Babbangida, 40 were buried at Mafa.
The attack took place on Sunday evening when the the terrorists stormed the town in over 50 motorcycles shooting anyone on sight.
In addition to the killings, they also set ablaze several shops and houses, while shooting sporadically.
Several people injured with various degrees of gunshots were also reported.
ISWAP terrorists had on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the attack in a letter written in Arabic and released by the insurgents.
It said the village was attacked for allegedly providing information to the military, which led to the killing of its members.
“This is a message from the soldiers of the Caliphate in the West Africa Province to the leaders, mukhtars, and the rest of the residents and farmers in the town of Mafa and the villages around it.”
“You have been tempted to remain in your countries in safety. The soldiers of the Caliphate will not harm you, nor threaten you with your money, nor hinder you from any activity of yours, whether agriculture, trade, etc., until you have arrogantly raised yourselves to a position in which you believe that your hands will reach our brothers with harm and remain uninterrupted.
“You have harmed our brothers in the past days in the town of (Bangaro) and its environs, and you cooperated and sympathized with the apostates in killing our brothers, and when we arrived in the area, we did not harm you.
“Rather, we limited ourselves to those whose hands were stained with the blood of our brothers, and who were attacked by their weapons, according to the information we found. We thought that by doing so we had warned you with the language of war, hoping that you would be deterred.
“However, this increased your arrogance and arrogance, so you repeated the same crime in the month of Safar.”
Meanwhile, Zagaz Ola Makama, a Security Analyst, Counter Insurgency Expert, Lake Chad, West Africa said in a report on September 3, 2024 that “the massacre in Mafa is believed to be a retaliatory strike by ISWAP, who were reportedly angered by the seizure of their supplies by military troops and the killing of three of their top commanders by villagers earlier that day.
“The slain commanders, identified as Munzir Man, Shuib Imam and Khaeed Jorro, were killed while attempting to collect taxes from the villagers.
“In a gruesome turn of events, ISWAP terrorists strapped the bodies of the dead commanders with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) after their deaths, targeting mourners, rescuers, and security agencies who would respond to the scene.
“The group also planted several bombs on the roads leading to Mafa, aiming to delay response teams and inflict further casualties.”
Nigerians are worried that the nation’s security forces have only adopted same reactionary than proactive strategy in their war against terrorism and banditry, saying it remains a worry even as the approach is not working.
“Why is it so difficult to adopt ICT and drone attacks, taking the battle to the terrorists who are in the bushes? Is anyone benefitting from all these, including obviously failed and suspicious sabotaged operations like what happened last week in Zamfara state?
“It appears there is calculated attempt to prolong these hardships. Maybe those telling our government to increase hardships on Nigerians, while living in stupendous opulence are same people advising them on security matters.
“What is happening is so glaring that even a little child knows it can never solve the problems and the solutions are not rocket science,” aggrieved Nigerian stated.
