Boko Haram fighters killed at least 24 people in Adamawa on Thursday.
Those killed were mourning the death of one of the community leaders when the terrorists opened fire on them near the town of Gulak in Adamawa state at about 8:00 pm.
Maina Ularamu, a former local government chairman in nearby Madagali, confirmed the incident saying several people were injured apart from the 24 dead.
“They came on motorcycles and opened fire on the crowd, killing 24. Most of the victims were women. They looted food supplies and burnt homes and they left almost an hour later,” Ulamaru said.
“Gulak has been liberated from Boko Haram but the gunmen still live in villages nearby. They attack mostly to loot food supplies.
“Our people who fled their homes to escape Boko Haram attacks have been returning because they can’t live in the camps.
“But now they are facing threats from Boko Haram who launch nocturnal attacks.”
Boko Haram threatened to overrun Adamawa state in 2014, sweeping down from their Sambisa Forest stronghold which lies just across the border in Borno state to Mubi, 80 kilometres south of Gulak.
The rampage, which left bridges and homes destroyed on the only road south to Yola, forced tens of thousands of people from their homes to flee into camps and host communities in the state capital.
Adamawa police spokesman Othman Abubakar, based in the state capital Yola, also confirmed the attack.
Although the government claims that Boko Haram has been technically driven out of the state, there has been occasional attacks in the state.
The last attack in Adamawa was on 9th January when seven people were killed and two others injured in a raid on Madagali.
Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up at a market in Madagali on 28th December, killing 30, just days after President Muhammadu Buhari declared the Islamists “technically” defeated.
There has been a noticeable fall in attacks since the turn of the year and the military claims the Islamic State affiliate is severely weakened and pushed into border areas around Lake Chad.
But Thursday’s attack is an indication that the rebels, who want to create a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria, are not routed, and still have the capacity to strike.
Since 2009, terrorist violence in the north-eastern region of the country has killed more than 20,000 people and displaced close to 3,000,000 others.