TERROR: Boko Haram assembles elderly people in Gwoza, open fire on them

Islamic extremists in northeast Nigeria are turning their
guns on elderly people, killing more than 50 this week
in a new tactic that has instilled more fear in areas the
militants call an Islamic caliphate, AP reports.
Residents from five villages say people too elderly to
flee Gwoza local government area are being rounded
up and taken to two schools where the militants open
fire on them. The villages are about 130 kilometers (80
miles) southeast of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.
"What they are doing now is to assemble the aged
people — both men and women … and then they just
open fire on some of them," AP quoted Muhammed
Gava, a spokesman for civil defense groups in the area
as saying. More than 50 people had been killed at
Government Day Secondary School in Gwoza, he said.
A villager who had fled said more elderly people are
being gathered and shot at Uvaghe Central Primary
School. The villager spoke on condition of anonymity
for fear of endangering his trapped parents.
Government officials did not immediately comment on
the reports.
Nigeria's military said soldiers are patrolling "in search of terrorists" and "to verify abductions" Friday around the village of Gumburi, where witnesses say extremists kidnapped at least 185 people a week ago. Nigeria's military and government have been criticized for their failure to rescue 219 schoolgirls kidnapped from a town near Gumburi in April.
In separate attacks Friday, witnesses said Boko Haram
struck at Damagum and Mamudo towns in Yobe state,
bombing government buildings, the police station and
military barracks.
The extremists suffered a setback when they attacked
soldiers guarding a power station in Borno state,
according to an engineer who spoke on condition of
anonymity for fear of reprisals. He said soldiers were
warned in advance that the extremists were advancing
and engaged the militants in fierce fighting that killed at
least 70.
Extremists have killed thousands of people in a 5-year
uprising that has driven some 1.6 million from their
homes.