Boko Haram Islamists killed a civilian and torched his house during a raid on a village in the northeastern Nigerian state of Yobe, a police spokesman said on Monday.  Travelling in all-terrain vans, they raided Babban Gida village around 01:00 am (GMT) Sunday and fought a gunbattle with soldiers. The insurgents stole two police vehicles but were eventually driven out, Toyin Gbadegesin, Yobe state police spokesman told AFP.

“The terrorists ?initially shot dead a man and burnt his thatched hut on the outskirts of the village,” Gbadegesin said. “They attacked the police station where troops engaged them in a fight which forced them to retreat”. Babban Gida, which lies 50 kilometres from the state capital Damaturu, has ?been repeatedly targeted by Boko Haram extremists, whose six-year insurgency has claimed over 17,000 lives and displaced 2.6 million from their homes.

Credit: AFP