The Defence Headquarters, has debunked claims by the United Nations, that 110 persons were killed by Boko Haram during attack by the insurgents on farmers working in a rice field on Saturday.
According to the army, only 43 persons were killed in the onslaught on farmers in Borno State.
This was made known by the Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. John Enenche, while featuring on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.
He said, troops counted the corpses together with the locals and 43 deaths were recorded as against the 110 reported by the United Nations.
“I knew it (the issue) is going to come up, particularly because it is coming from the United Nations and not a source that does not want to be identified. This is a source that has identified itself that a 110 specifically (were murdered),” he said.
“Of course, some people ran into the bush and they started coming back and trickling in. As at 2pm yesterday (Sunday), I called them and they got back to me at about 7pm yesterday, still counting, looking if they will recover (more corpses).
“Probably we may count up to the figure he (Kallon) gave in the future but as it is now, what we have counted with the locals is still 43 and we are hoping that we don’t get beyond that.”
The deceased farmers were said to have been contracted to work on a rice plantation in Kwashabe village, about 20 kilometres north of Maiduguri, Jere Local Government Area.
