Shekau, second right, holding court with his soldiers.AFP Photo

Just hours after sending a suicide bomber to Biu in Borno state and carrying out an overnight attack of Chadian village of Ngouboua, Boko Haram has stepped up attacks in north east Nigeria.

At least 21 people were killed in two separate attacks on villages near Maiduguri, a community leader and a witness said on Friday.

“They (Boko Haram) killed 12 people in Akida village and nine others in Mbuta village during a raid,” said community leader Mustapha Abbagini.

A witness to the attack in Mbuta gave the same death toll while both said that the insurgents destroyed shops and homes in the raids, which happened on Thursday morning.

On Thursday, the Nigerian government warned that the insurgent group may have started recruiting and training fighters.

Coordinator of the National Information Centre on the war against terrorism and Director-General of the National Orientation Agency, Mr. Mike Omeri, raised the alarm at a press briefing in Abuja, citing intelligence reports.

Omeri said, “In the general effort to contain acts of insurgency in the North East and secure the entire area for the forthcoming general elections, the centre wishes to alert the general public on very recent intelligence reports which indicated a considerable movement of Boko Haram recruits from such locations as Geidam, Mairi and Dupcha (all in Borno State) to training camps within the general area.

“Previous major attacks by insurgents, including the siege on Bama and Monguno military bases, were preceded by such massing up of fighters in training camps within the proposed targets.

“This recent development, which points in the same direction, has also been alluded to by the Boko Haram group in its recent boast about having a 30,000 – 50,000-strong force to disrupt elections in Maiduguri”.