Suspected Boko Haram gunmen killed at least 37 people in three separate attacks in northeast Nigeria, including at a theological college, a local government official and residents said today.
The coordinated attacks in Adamawa state late on Wednesday came just a day after Islamist militant fighters were blamed for killing 43 people, most of them students, as they slept at a boarding school in Yobe state.
The chairman of the Madagali local government area in Adamawa, Maina Ularamu, said "a large number of militants carried out three separate attacks on Shuwa and Kirchinga in my local government area and on Michika in neighbouring Michika (district)".
"The gunmen divided themselves into three groups and separately attacked the three locations," he told AFP.
He had earlier put the death toll in Shuwa, part of Madagali local government area, at 17.
But he later told AFP that eight more bodies were recovered in the village, including three from a Christian college, confirming the account of a resident about the three burnt corpse found in the seminary.
"The death toll in the Shuwa attack now stands at 25 after eight more bodies were recovered, including three discovered under the burnt debris of the theological school," Ularamu said.
In Shuwa, several buildings were burnt, including a Christian theological college and a section of a secondary school.
In Kirchinga, Samuel Garba said the gunmen were all dressed in military uniform -- a tactic frequently employed by the militant fighters in previous, similar attacks.
"The gunmen... Killed eight people in our village and burnt many houses," he added.
"Four people have so far been confirmed dead in Michika," said Abdul Kassim, who lives in the village.
The dead were a young boy who was trying to run away and three security guards, he added.
In a statement, the military confirmed the attacks on multiple communities in Adamawa but said that only one soldier and three civilians were killed. Troops repelling the raids also killed six suspected Islamists, according to the statement.
The military further claimed that the militants, "in desperation for money and food...Looted and burnt banks (and) shops", and were trying to escape across the Cameroon border.
