ABUJA, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- At least a dozen people were feared killed and more wounded following an attack by suspected Boko Haram terror group in the town of Gudumbali in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno, according to local sources on Saturday.
Attackers wearing military uniforms rode into the town on motorcycles on Friday, shooting indiscriminately at residents, said a witness identified as Abubakar.
Abubakar said some of the attackers also fired missiles, causing many residents, mostly peasant farmers, to flee their homes.
"Some of our people who had only recently returned to Gudumbali have fled again. They may never return home again, despite assurances by the authorities," said Abubakar who has sought refuge in the state capital Maiduguri.
Thousands of residents had just returned to Gudumbali, located 209 kilometers north of Maiduguri, in June after a deadly attack that sacked them from the community about three years ago.
The attack in Gudumbali on Nov. 18, 2015, was regarded as one of the fiercest attacks by Boko Haram in nearly a decade insurgency in Nigeria's northeast region.
A total of 206 Nigerian soldiers were killed in the town following that attack. Until then, the town was a quiet and relatively unknown community even to many people in Borno State.
Nigeria's army spokesman Texas Chukwu did not immediately respond to Xinhua's call and text message about Friday's attack, but a military source said the authorities had launched an investigation into the incident.
Boko Haram has been trying since 2009 to establish an Islamic state in northeastern Nigeria, in the process killing some 20,000 people and forcing displacement of millions of others.
The resilience of the insurgent Boko Haram group in the Lake Chad basin since 2009 posed enormous security, humanitarian and governance challenges, according to the United Nations.
Four countries caught up in the insurgency are Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria. The United Nations said the Boko Haram had displaced nearly 2.4 million people in the Lake Chad sub-region.
