Suspected Boko Haram attack on funeral in Nigeria kills at least 65

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Villagers in northeastern Nigeria are fleeing their homes, leaving everything behind, after armed men on motorbikes roared into their area and gunned down funeral mourners on Saturday, killing at least 65 people, officials said on Monday.

Officials attributed the attack to Boko Haram, the Islamist extremist group that has terrorized the region for the last 10 years, although there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the assault.

The attack on Saturday, in the village of Badu Abachari, north of the city of Maiduguri, was in retaliation for an earlier clash, officials said.

Villagers have formed defense groups, armed with hunting guns and knives, to resist Boko Haram. People in the village that was attacked had repelled a militant assault two weeks earlier, said Mohammed Bulama, council chairman of the Nganzai area in Borno state. He said the villagers had killed 11 Boko Haram fighters and seized 10 AK- 47 rifles.

Mr. Bulama said that Boko Haram gunmen had been moving freely around Borno state, rustling cattle and “carting away foodstuff from our people.” Villagers who inherited their cattle and had spent all their lives herding them felt the “unbearable pain” of losing them, he said.

Around noon on Saturday, the Boko Haram fighters “came on a reprisal mission, attacking mourners at a graveyard in the area,” Mr. Bulama said. In addition to those confirmed killed, at least 10 people were injured and dozens were still missing, so the toll could rise.

One survivor, Aji Gaji Mallam, said he had escaped death by pretending that he was dead as the slaughter went on around him, lying still for three hours. He said that four of his brothers had been killed in previous Boko Haram attacks.

“These people have been stealing from us so we decided to come together because we could no longer wait for an eternity for soldiers to defend us,” Mr. Mallam said.

Another villager, Ba’ na Modu, survived the attacks with gunshot wounds in both upper arms and was taken to a hospital in Maiduguri. But he had not heard from his wife and seven children since the attack and no one could tell him what had become of them.

“I don’t know their whereabouts,” he said. “It is just unbearable for me. Where do I start from?”

Villagers said that the militants had attacked the funeral procession and then returned and attacked people who went to help. Most of the dead were in Badu Abachari, but the killings spread to at least two other villages, and bodies were recovered from the bush around several other villages.