Boko Haram militants slit throats of 10 fishermen

(MENAFN- Arab News) KANO Nigeria: Boko Haram miliants slit the throats of 10 fishermen in villages near Baga on the shores of the Lake Chad in northeastern Nigeria a leading fisherman and a resident said.
Nigeria announced on Thursday the appointment of a general to lead a new multinational task force created to fight Boko Haram in the face of increasingly bloody attacks.
Maj. Gen. Iliya Abbah who previously commanded military operations in the oil-rich Niger Delta will head the five-nation force military spokesman Major General Chris Olukolade said.
'On Monday around 4 p.m. (local time) Boko Haram attacked three villages on the shores of Lake Chad where they slaughtered 10 people all of them fishermen' Abubakar Gamandi head of the fishermen's union in Borno State told AFP.
The account was confirmed by a local fisherman Buhari Dan-Malam who lives in Doron Baga.
'The Boko Haram gunmen came around 4 p.m. and they attacked three villages. They slit the throats of 10 people' he said.
The villages attacked on Monday were Bundaram where they killed four people Fishdam where they killed two people and Kwatar Mali where they killed four people' Gamandi said.
'Boko Haram decided not to use guns so as not to attract the attention of soldiers from Baga. This is why they used knives to slaughter their victims' he said.
The fishing villages around Baga were abandoned in January after some of the most deadly attacks by the group.
But 'in the last month residents in the Baga area displaced by the Boko Haram takeover of the area in January have been returning to some villages secured by the military to continue their fishing business' Gamandi said.
'They take their catch back to Maiduguri (the state capital) to sell and make a living because living in the IDP (internally displaced people) camps has become difficult due to lack of food.'
The army had authorized the displaced people to go back to fish in the villages he added.
The rebels had attempted to enter Doron Baga on Monday but villagers 'mobilized and began booing them. And that helped in keeping them away' Dan-Malam said.
'Because of our daring act we let them believe soldiers were in the village. They then went and camped in Dawashi another village. To avoid being attacked we went to Maiduguri' he said.
But they later returned 'because fishing is all we know. Now there is fish in the lake which had been left untapped since January' he said.
Last week nine water melon growers were also killed in Dabar Wiya where they had returned to harvest their produce said Gamandi who did not provide further details.
The hundreds of islets separated by channels hidden by tall grass in the Lake Chad region provides cover for the militants to steal livestock and food from local inhabitants.
The jihadists now affiliated with Daesh have been using the islands as a rear base after being routed from their traditional strongholds in Nigeria by a four-country military offensive against them.
The Chadian army has launched a 'major operation' to flush out Boko Haram fighters from Lake Chad sparking violent clashes on Monday between soldiers and the group.
Chadian forces have 'around 1000 men positioned to occupy all the islands and neutralize Boko Haram' a security official told AFP.