B'Haram kills 24 members of civilian JTF

Suspected members of Boko Haram, ambushed and
killed at least 24 members of a youth vigilante group
who were on a mission to find and fight the sect in
northeast Nigeria, a security official told Associated
Press on Saturday.
Those who returned from Friday's attack told officials
that 36 other vigilantes were missing, the official said
on condition of anonymity because he is not permitted
to speak to the media.
"The vigilante youths numbering over 100 were on a
mission to capture some Boko Haram terrorists in
their camps around Kaleri, Shuwari, Maganari and
Nannari villages around Monguno's local government
area, before they were ambushed by the terrorists," he
said.
The attack took place somewhere near Monguno town,
160 kilometers (100 miles) from the city of Maiduguri,
the Borno state capital where the Boko Haram
ideology sprang up some four years ago.
The vigilante group, known as the Civilian Joint Task
Force, said its attackers were wearing military
uniforms. The official said the Civilian-JTF usually
gets a military escort when it goes on a search
mission but that when the military did not arrive on
time the vigilantes headed out.
They later told officials they saw three patrol vehicles
painted in camouflage and approached them thinking
they were the escorts. The sect members then opened
fire, killing at least 24 Civilian-JTF members, the
security operative said.
The Civilian-JTF has recently become a target for
Boko Haram, an armed Islamic group that has been
waging a bloody war in Africa's most populous nation.
Two attacks – one earlier in the week and the other
last weekend – killed at least 20 members of the
vigilante group, residents and an official said.
"We are getting too many attacks and our members'
deaths are on the rise. I am scared, and so are some
of my friends in the vigilantes," said Shehu Ibrahim, a
member of Civilian-JTF. "We may back out if we are
not protected."
The state's foremost monarch, the Shehu of Borno,
Abubakar Garbai Alamin El-Kanemi, had requested
financial and material support for the Civilian-JTF
while attending a government meeting in the troubled
city of Maiduguri.