This archive report was first published on 28 July 2019.
Published on July 28, 2019, a Boko Haram attack on a funeral in northeast Nigeria has left a devastating trail of death and destruction.
According to local officials, the attack on Saturday by Boko Haram fighters in a village near Maiduguri, the regional capital, has resulted in the deaths of 65 people, with 10 injured.
"It is 65 people dead and 10 injured," local government chairman Muhammed Bulama said.
The attack began with the killing of over 20 people at a funeral gathering, with dozens more being killed as they attempted to chase after the jihadists.
Confirming the death toll, the leader of a local anti-Boko Haram militia, Bunu Bukar Mustapha, provided a slightly different account of the attack, stating that 23 people were killed as they returned from the funeral and "the remaining 42 were killed when they pursued the terrorists".
AFP journalists at the scene witnessed houses burnt in the attack, with relatives collecting the bodies of those slain for burial.
The attack is believed to be in retaliation for the killing two weeks ago of 11 Boko Haram fighters by local residents when the jihadists approached their village.
Boko Haram fighters have repeatedly attacked the surrounding Nganzai district, with the group killing eight people and stealing livestock in two villages in the area in September last year.
The violence in northeast Nigeria has resulted in the deaths of around 27,000 people and displaced more than two million, with Boko Haram waging a decade-long campaign of violence in the region.
