The Gwoza massacre was a terrorist event that occurred on 2 June, 2014 in the

Gwoza Gwoza is a local government area of Borno State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Gwoza, a border town "about 135 kilometres South-East of Maiduguri." The postal code of the area is 610. The terrain is rocky and hilly. The Gwoza Hills ...

local government district, Borno State near the Nigerian-Camerounian border. Militants (presumably from Boko Haram) dressed as soldiers slaughtered hundreds of civilians in the villages of Goshe, Attagara, Agapalwa and Aganjara. Some reliable sources have put the death toll at 400-500. A community leader who witnessed the Monday killings had said that local residents had pleaded for help from the military, but it did not arrive in time. It took a few days for word from survivors to reach the provincial capital of Maiduguri, because the roads are extremely dangerous and phone connections are poor or nonexistent, due to the state of emergency declared in Borno about a year before. The slaughter was confirmed by both Mohammed Ali Ndume, a senator representing Borno and whose hometown is Gwoza, as well as a top security official in

Maiduguri Maiduguri is the capital and the largest city of Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria. The city sits along the seasonal Ngadda River which disappears into the ''Firki'' swamps in the areas around Lake Chad. Maiduguri was founded in 1907 as a mil ...

who insisted on anonymity. Several eyewitness sources reported that men and boys were targeted in these attacks. According to one witness, "When some of the villagers managed to escape, they were unfortunately waylaid outside the villages by some gunmen on motorcycles who would catch and slaughter the men and young boys; they only allowed women and children to go." Another source reported that mothers had their male infants taken from them and shot. This followed shortly after the assassination of Muslim leader Alhaji

Idrissa Timta Shehu Mustapha Idrissa Timta (1942 – May 30, 2014) was a Nigerian traditional leader who served as the 3rd Emir of Gwoza from October 1981 until his death in May 2014. He was killed in an attack by Boko Haram terrorists on May 30, 2014. He was ...

, the

Emir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...

of Gwoza, at the end of May.

References

{{coord, 11.0933, N, 13.8206, E, source:wikidata, display=title 2014 murders in Nigeria Massacres perpetrated by Boko Haram Massacres in 2014 Terrorist incidents in Nigeria in 2014 Mass murder in Borno State Massacres of men Violence against men in Africa Islamic terrorist incidents in 2014 June 2014 crimes in Africa