Koshebe massacre

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Koshebe massacre
Part of the Boko Haram insurgency
Koshebefuneral.png
Funeral of victims of Koshebe massacre
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Koshebe
Location of Koshebe in Nigeria
LocationKoshebe, Borno State, Nigeria
Coordinates 11°58′33″N13°19′10″E / 11.97583°N 13.31944°E / 11.97583; 13.31944 Coordinates: 11°58′33″N13°19′10″E / 11.97583°N 13.31944°E / 11.97583; 13.31944
Date28 November 2020 (2020-11-28)
Attack type
Mass killing, spree killing, terrorism
Deaths110 [1]
Injured6 [1]
Perpetrators Boko Haram

The Koshebe massacre took place on 28 November 2020 in the village of Koshebe, Nigeria, in Borno State, when as many as 110 civilians and peasant farmers were killed and six were wounded as they worked in rice fields in Koshebe village, near the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri. [2] The attack was thought to be carried out by the Boko Haram insurgency. [3] About 15 women were also kidnapped. [4]

Contents

Background

Since the 2009 Boko Haram uprising in northern Nigeria, [5] thousands of people have been killed and thousands more wounded in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon. [3] The leader of Boko Haram at the time, Mohammed Yusuf, was killed in Maiduguri, Borno State in 2009.

Boko Haram has killed more than 30,000 since 2009. [6] An attack near the village of Gubio in June 2020 resulted in 81 deaths. [6] In October 2020, Boko Haram carried out two separate attacks in fields near Maiduguri, slitting the throats of 22 farmers. [7]

Flooding in northwest Nigeria earlier in the year destroyed thousands of hectares of rice, and food prices rose substantially in 2020 mainly due to insecurity in food-producing regions. [3]

Massacre

On 28 November 2020, Boko Haram militants slaughtered as many as 110 farm laborers in Koshebe village, located near Borno State's capital Maiduguri. [1] [3] The victims were tied up by the assailants and their throats slit in the village, an anti-Boko Haram militia told AFP news agency. They were laborers from Sokoto State in northwest Nigeria and had traveled more than 1,000 kilometers to the area to find work. [4] The spokesman of the Nigerian president, Garba Shehu, said the laborers did not have permission to work within the region where they were attacked, as the area had not been cleared of Boko Haram. [6] The farmers were in a difficult situation as they were at risk of dying from starvation if they chose to stay at home, but were vulnerable to the insurgents if they ventured into the farmlands. [4] [6]

The attack was due to an incident on 27 November where a Boko Haram gunman, who had been tormenting the farmers, was disarmed and arrested. [4] The gunman ordered the farmers to cook for him, and while some were cooking rice, others struck at the gunman, tied him up and called for security. [6] On 29 November, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Edward Kallon said that armed men had arrived on motorcycles and proceeded to massacre the workers. [7]

Reactions

Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari condemned the massacre, [8] and expressed grief over the killing of farmers on rice fields at Zabarmari, in Jere Local Government of Borno State, describing the terrorist killings as "...insane". [8] The governor of Borno state, Babagana Umara Zulum, lead the funeral of the victims, and called on the federal government to enlist more soldiers and security force members to protect the farmers. [4]

Related Research Articles

Maiduguri is the capital and the largest city of Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria. The city sits along the seasonal Ngadda River which disappears into the Firki swamps in the areas around Lake Chad. Maiduguri was founded in 1907 as a military outpost by the British and has since grown rapidly with a population exceeding a million by 2007.

Borno State State of Nigeria

Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon, its northern border forms part of the national border with Niger, and its northeastern border forms all of the national border with Chad, being the only Nigerian state to border three foreign countries. It takes its name from the historic emirate of Borno, with the emirate's old capital of Maiduguri serving as the capital city of Borno State. The state was formed in 1976 when the former North-Eastern State was broken up. It originally included the area that is now Yobe State, which became a distinct state in 1991.

2009 Boko Haram uprising 2009 conflicts between police and Islamist militants in northeastern Nigeria

The 2009 Boko Haram uprising was a conflict between Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group, and Nigerian security forces. Violence across several states in northeastern Nigeria resulted in more than 1,000 dead, with around 700 killed in the city of Maiduguri alone, according to one military official.

Boko Haram Nigerian jihadist terrorist organization

Boko Haram, officially known as Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād, is a terrorist organization based in northeastern Nigeria, which is also active in Chad, Niger and northern Cameroon. In 2016, the group split, resulting in the emergence of a hostile faction known as the Islamic State's West Africa Province.

Marte is a Local Government Area of Borno State, Nigeria, on the western coast of Lake Chad. Its headquarters are in the town of Marte

Gwoza LGA and town in Borno State, Nigeria

Gwoza is a local government area of Borno State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Gwoza, a border town "about 135 kilometres South-East of Maiduguri." The postal code of the area is 610.

Boko Haram insurgency Sunni Islamic terrorism in Sub-Saharan Africa

The Boko Haram insurgency began in July 2009, when the militant Islamist and jihadist rebel group Boko Haram started an armed rebellion against the government of Nigeria. The conflict takes place within the context of long-standing issues of religious violence between Nigeria's Muslim and Christian communities, and the insurgents' ultimate aim is to establish an Islamic state in the region.

Baga is a town in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno, close to Lake Chad, and lying northeast of the town of Kukawa. It is located within the Kukawa Local Government Area.

The Baga massacre began on 16 April 2013 in the village of Baga, Nigeria, in Borno State, when as many as 200 civilians were killed, hundreds wounded, and over 2,000 houses and businesses worth millions of Naira were destroyed. Refugees, civilians officials, and human rights organizations accused the Nigerian Military of carrying out the massacre; some military officials blamed the insurgent group Boko Haram.

Timeline of the Boko Haram insurgency is the chronology of the Boko Haram insurgency, an ongoing armed conflict between Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram and the Nigerian government. Boko Haram have carried out many attacks against the military, police and civilians since 2009, mostly in Nigeria. The low-intensity conflict is centred on Borno State. It peaked in the mid 2010s, when Boko Haram extended their insurgency into Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

The Konduga massacre took place in Konduga, Borno State, Nigeria on 11 February 2014. The massacre was conducted by Boko Haram Islamists against Christian villagers. At least 62 people were killed.

The January 2014 Northern Nigeria attacks were a set of terrorist massacres that occurred in January 2014 at Kawuri, Borno state and in Chakawa village, Madagali Local Government Area, Adamawa State respectively. All of the attacks have been blamed on Boko Haram.

Gwoza massacre

The Gwoza massacre was a terrorist event that occurred on 2 June, 2014 in the Gwoza local government district, Borno State near the Nigerian-Camerounian border.

From 20 to 23 June 2014, a series of attacks occurred in Borno State, Nigeria. 91 women and children were kidnapped in the attacks and more than 70 people were killed.

The Benisheik massacre was a massacre that occurred on 18 September 2013 in Benisheik, Borno State, Nigeria. Some 161 people were killed. Boko Haram took responsibility for the attacks.

The following lists events from 2014 in Nigeria.

The 2015 Baga massacre was a series of mass killings carried out by the Boko Haram terrorist group in the north-eastern Nigerian town of Baga and its environs, in the state of Borno, between 3 January and 7 January 2015.

September 2015 Borno State bombings

On the evening of September 20, 2015, a series of bombings took place in Maiduguri and Monguno, Nigeria, killing at least 145 people and injuring at least 97 others. The majority of casualties occurred in Maiduguri where four explosions killed at least 117 people.

Chad Basin campaign (2018–2020) Series of battles and offensives in the Chad Basin

The Chad Basin campaign of 2018–2020 was a series of battles and offensives in the southern Chad Basin, particularly northeastern Nigeria, which took place amid the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency. The Chad Basin witnessed an upsurge of insurgent activity from early November 2018, as rebels belonging to the Islamic State's West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram launched offensives and several raids to regain military strength and seize territory in a renewed attempt to establish an Islamic state in the region. These attacks, especially those by ISWAP, met with considerable success and resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians. The member states of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF), namely Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon responded to the increased insurgent activity with counter-offensives. These operations repulsed the rebels in many areas, but failed to fully contain the insurgency.

Babagana Umara Zulum is a Nigerian professor and politician. He is the serving Governor of Borno State in the 2019 Governorship election under the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Northeast Nigeria attack claimed at least 110 lives: UN". The Guardian. 29 November 2020.
  2. "Boko Haram Slaughters 43 Farmers in Borno, Destroys Rice Farms". ThisDay. 28 November 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Dozens of farmworkers Killed in Nigeria Massacre". Trtworld. 28 November 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Dozens of farm workers killed in 'insane' Nigeria attack". BBC. 30 November 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  5. Dixon, Robyn (22 April 2013). "Dozens Killed in Gun Battles in Northern Nigeria". Los Angeles Times . Johannesburg. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Paquette, Danielle (1 December 2020). "Militants massacre at least 110 civilians on Nigerian rice farms". The Washington Post. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  7. 1 2 "Au moins 110 civils tués dans une attaque au Nigeria". Le Monde (in French). 28 November 2020.
  8. 1 2 "Boko Haram: Yadda aka yi wa manoma 43 yankan rago a Jihar Borno". BBC Hausa. 28 November 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.