The Defence Headquarters, on Monday, insisted that Boko Haram killed 43 persons in Saturday onslaught on farmers in Borno State, and not 110 as reported by the United Nations (UN)
The deceased were slaughtered at a rice plantation in Kwashabe village, about 20 kilometres north of Maiduguri, Jere Local Government Area
The insurgents were also reported to have destroyed the rice plantation after slaughtering all the farmers.
Speaking while featuring on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme, Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. John Enenche faulted a report by the United Nations that the insurgents killed 110 civilians.
According to Enenche, the troops counted the corpses together with the locals and 43 deaths were recorded.
“I knew it (the issue) is going to come up, particularly because it is coming from the United Nations and not a source that does not want to be identified. This is a source that has identified itself that a 110 specifically (were murdered),” he said.
“Of course, some people ran into the bush and they started coming back and trickling in. As at 2pm yesterday (Sunday), I called them and they got back to me at about 7pm yesterday, still counting, looking if they will recover (more corpses).
“Probably we may count up to the figure he (Kallon) gave in the future but as it is now, what we have counted with the locals is still 43 and we are hoping that we don’t get beyond that.”
