Nigeria jihadists kill around 30 in reprisal attacks

The attacks were the latest on fishermen or farmers in remote parts of northeast Borno state, where Islamist militants are fighting a long-running conflict that has ebbed sharply in recent years.
Fighters allied with the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) storm edisland areas on the Nigerian side of Lake Chad on Sunday and Monday, gathering up and shooting fishermen at close range, the sources said on Tuesday.
The killings appeared to be a revenge attack for air strikes on ISWAP campsby Nigeria's military days earlier in which scores of jihadists and their families were killed, the sources said.
"ISWAP fighters came in speed boats to three islands and asked fishermen toassemble before opening fire on them," militia leader Ibrahim Liman said.
"They killed many people and went after those who tried to flee, gunning themdown."
The militiaman, part of a local paramilitary unit that works with Nigeria's armed forces against jihadists, said the search for bodies was still ongoing but the dead "exceed 30, no doubt".
Fisherman Isa Danmakama who escaped the massacre told AFP by telephone hecounted 28 bodies when he returned to search for his younger brother who was killed, reports BSS.
"I escaped by running and diving in the water amid the shooting," Danmakamasaid.
"I returned later on Monday after the militants were gone to look for thebody of my younger brother and I counted 28 bodies scattered," he said.
Another fisherman Sallau Arzika who gave a similar account of the incidentsaid the human loss was "huge", without giving a definite toll.
Nigeria's military did not immediately give a statement about the incident.
Umar Ari, another militiaman, said the militants were angry over aerialbombings on camps in Kirta Wulgo, Jibillaram, Sabon Tumbu "which caused heavycasualties among the terrorists."
The jihadists accused the fishermen on three islands of providing thelocation of their camps to the military, Ari said.
"The fishermen fled the islands during the military operations and returnedafter the aerial attacks ended. That was why ISWAP believed they knew aboutthe planned military attacks and labelled them traitors," he said.
Since ISWAP split from Boko Haram in 2016, it has seized most of theterritory previously controlled by the jihadist movement, including in LakeChad where it has established a strong presence.
The group allowed fishermen and herders to fish and graze in its territoryafter paying a form of tax, providing it with a lucrative source of income.
ISWAP and rival Boko Haram have both increasingly targeted loggers, herders,farmers, fishermen and metal scrap collectors, accusing them of passinginformation to the military and the local militia fighting them.
Nigeria's jihadist violence has killed over 40,000 people and displacedaround two million from their homes in the northeast since 2009, according tothe United Nations.