Suspected Islamist militants have killed dozens of civilians in three villages in northeastern Nigeria, a region now hit by almost daily attacks, a security source and a victim's relative said on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.
Gunmen in combat uniforms rode army trucks on Tuesday through Borno state's Gwoza area, the main stronghold of the Boko Haram militant group, firing on villagers and burning houses and churches to the ground, the security source said, the AP reported.
Nigeria's military has insisted the large influx of troops and a year-old state of emergency in three states which gives them the power to detain suspects, take over buildings and lock down any area has the extremists on the run, according to the AP.
Andrew Tada, a Gwoza man living living in Borno's capital Maiduguri, said he lost two cousins in the attack, according to the AP. He said residents had told him they were preparing to bury 45 people from one village alone.
"It is very sad and the villages are deserted now," Tada said, the AP reported. "We are just asking government to give us security to go there tomorrow to evacuate the corpses for burial."
Boko Haram has killed thousands since 2009 and grabbed world headlines after it abducted more than 200 girls from a secondary school in Borno's town of Chibok in April, according to the AP.
The continuation of killing has accumulated more than 560 deaths since April 14, the day of the abduction and a deadly bus park bomb in Nigeria's capital Abuja, the AP reported.
In one of the deadliest incidents, a bomb in the central city of Jos last month killed 118 people, officials said, according to the AP. The mass kidnapping and bombings have piled political pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan, who on Thursday ordered a "full-scale operation" against Boko Haram.
