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According to those who returned from Friday’s attack, 36 other vigilantes were missing.
“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,” said an official who asked for anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
The attack took place somewhere near Monguno town, 160 kilometres (100 miles) from the city of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital where the Boko Haram ideology sprang up some four years ago.
According to the vigilante group, known as the Civilian Joint Task Force, its attackers were wearing military uniforms.
The Civilian-JTF, according to the official, 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.
Boko Haram has in the recent past made the Civilian-JTF a target. Last weekend for instance, at least another 20 members of the vigilante group were killed.
“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.”
Abubakar Garbai Alamin El-Kanemi, the Shehu of Borno and the State’s foremost monarch had requested financial and material support for the Civilian-JTF while attending a government meeting in the troubled city of Maiduguri.
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