by Rachel Ogbu

Members of the Boko Haram were reported to have come out of hiding last week to attack more people, most recently at Alau Dam, on the outskirts of Maiduguri where 13 were murdered bring the death toll in three days to 22.

An eyewitness reportedly said the gunmen ambushed the people around the dam and sporadically opened fire on them. The gunmen were said to have continuously shouted at their victims: “You are those exposing our activities to security agencies, today your days are over, as we will kill all of you.”

[READ: Horrific: Boko Haram kills 9 more students writing exams in Borno ]

[READ: Terrible: Boko Haram kills 7 students, 2 teachers in Yobe ]

According to reports, a few weeks ago, some groups of youths on a volunteer mission arrested several members of the sect in Hausari and Gwange, among other areas of Maiduguri and handed them over to the JTF.

Yesterday, Boko Haram declared war on youths from Borno and Yobe States for revealing their hideouts and turning them over to security agents including killing some of their members in recent weeks.

The spokesman of the Boko Haram, Abu Zinnira released a statement to some Maiduguri-based journalists which read:

“We have established that youths in Borno and Yobe States are now against our course. They have connived with security operatives and are actively supporting the government of Nigeria in its war against us. We have also resolved to fight back,” Zinnira said.

ThisDay Live reports:

Alau Dam is one of the biggest dams in the state and operates a treatment plant that supplies water to the people of Maiduguri and its environs.
It also supplies water to vast areas of agricultural land through irrigation to farmers living around the riverine areas.

It was learnt that among those killed were youths of Gwange ward of Maiduguri metropolis who had gone to Alau Dam to buy fish.

A resident of Gwange and a neighbour of one of the slain victims, Mallam Mohammed Musa, told journalists, “One of my neighbours was among the 13 people killed by suspected Boko Haram members in Alau Dam on Monday.

“It was yesterday after Magrib (evening) prayers that the news of the killings filtered to our community.”

The fundamentalist group said that in addition to their targets: the police, soldiers, all security operatives, politicians and other symbols of authority, the youths of the two states have now been added to the assassination list.

Angered by the lingering crises that had crippled social and economic activities in both states, some youths had organised themselves into vigilante groups, captured scores of insurgents and handed them over to security operatives.

However, some of the youths who promised to fight the Boko Haram insurgents in Maiduguri said they would not be deterred from carrying out their mission and there would be no going back on the course they had started so as to bring sanity back to their beloved states.