Dozens killed in attacks claimed by Boko Haram

Nigeria media claimed on Tuesday (13.08.2013) that the death toll in a weekend attack by suspected members of the militant Islamist sect Boko Haram had risen to 60.

The deadly assaults on a mosque in Konduga, near Borno state's capital Maiduguri, and the village of Ngom in nearby Mafa district were believed to be out of revenge for activities of vigilante groups.

The Nigerian military had been encouraging the formation of citizens' vigilante groups to help find and arrest Boko Haram members.

On Sunday morning, 44 people were shot dead in the mosque, a senior government official said. In Mafa on Saturday night, the suspected insurgents shot 12 other people at their homes, according to another local official.

Residents said the attackers were wearing army camouflage, a tactic they have used in the past. Some also alleged that a number of victims' throats had been slit, but many details of the violence remain unclear and the military has not provided any official statement on the attacks.

But the military did confirm that the multinational wing of the Joint Task Force, drawn from Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon had clashed with Boko Haram insurgents in Mallam Fatori in the Abadam local government area of northern Borno last week. Simultaneously, Boko Haram insurgents had laid siege to a police barracks in the town of Bama in central Borno.

Some Nigerian analysts, such as Umar Adamu, claim the latest violence shows that the state of emergency launched by President Goodluck Jonathan in the region in May isn't working. "If the insurgency is still on after the state of emergency, what can one say as an ordinary citizen? People feel helpless, because it is the responsibility of government to provide security for society," he told DW.

Confidence in government's ability to end insurgency dwindling

Abdulllahi Bawa Wase, analyst with the UN Department for Safety and Security, said attacks targeting people helping the authorities against Boko Haram were bound to continue.

"And there is more to it than that. Following the state of emergency, Boko Haram was pushed out to the border with Cameroon where there still hold sway," he said.

Muhammad Al-Amin, a DW correspondent in northern Nigeria, says Nigerians have lost confidence in the committee set up by Jonathan to probe possible dialogue with Boko Haram as a means of ending the conflict, which has claimed more than 3,000 lives over the last four years.

Meanwhile Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau purportedly released a new video on Monday, accusing the Nigerian government and the military of misleading the public about the ongoing insurgency.

Speaking in Hausa and Arabic, he also claimed responsibility for various attacks in Mallam Fatori, Bama and Gamboru Ngala over the last two weeks.

The military has dismissed Shekau's previous claims as pure propaganda and say they are pursuing him. His whereabouts are unknown.

The army has given no indication how it intends to deal with this latest upsurge in violence.