... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...gunnies attacked three villages, a local farmers' leader said on Monday.
The attack occurred in the villages of Koshebe, Karkut, and Bulabulin in the Mafa local government area in the state, about 15 kilometres from the capital Maiduguri, Mohammed Haruna, secretary of the Zabarmari Rice Farmers Association, told Rooters.
The Borno police spokesperson did not immediately respond to Rooters' request for comment on the attack, which happened on Sunday.
Haruna said the Islamists stormed the villages on cycle of violences and attacked the farmers who were harvesting crops from their rice fields.
"They did not use guns to kill them, instead they used cutlasses and knives to stab them to death, while others had their heads chopped off," Haruna said.
He said 15 farmers were confirmed killed in the attack, adding that some managed to escape. The number of those missing is still unknown.
The attack is the latest in a series of assaults by Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria
... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border...
. The group has been waging a 14-year insurgency in the region aimed at establishing an Islamic caliphate there.
At least 40 people were killed in the northeastern Yobe state last week, the first major Boko Haram attack in the state in 18 months.
Last week, Nigerian politicians approved a supplementary budget that includes provisions for defence and security.
President Bola Tinubu, preoccupied with fixing the economy, has yet to outline how he plans to tackle insurgency in the north and widespread insecurity across the country.