{{Suspected Islamist militants pretending to be preachers rounded up and killed at least 42 villagers in northeastern Nigeria, a police source said, as an escalating insurgency increasingly targets civilians.}}
The shootings on the outskirts of the city of Maiduguri late on Wednesday came a day after officials said raiders killed scores in three other settlements in Borno state, where the Boko Haram militant group first launched its campaign to carve out an Islamist caliphate.
The attackers, who were wearing military-style uniforms, drove into the village of Bardari, told people to gather for a sermon and opened fire, the police source told Reuters. “The people couldn’t identify them in time as terrorists,” the source added.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack. But Boko Haram has stepped up its revolt and mounted nearly daily attacks in the area since it made world headlines in April by abducting more than 200 schoolgirls in another part of the state.
The mass abduction, and Boko Haram’s fightback against a military offensive, has increased political pressure President Goodluck Jonathan, who has faced regular street protests by activists criticising his response.
Jonathan has accepted help from the United States and other foreign powers who are alarmed at the prospect of further turmoil in Africa’s largest economy and oil producer, and its potential impact on a fragile region. Borno state borders Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
After Wednesday’s shooting, militants then left, crossing a river and setting fire to houses in the neighbouring village of Kayamla, said the police source.
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