Boko Haram kills 27 people in northeast Nigeria

At least 27 people have been killed in two separate attacks by members of the militant group Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria, according to a government official.

Local government official Alhaji Modu Gana Sheriff told reporters on Saturday that six people were killed in an attack on Wednesday night in the town of Gamboru in Borno state and another 21 were killed on Thursday night in the same town.

A military official in Borno said that he thought the attacks were coordinated.

Nigerian authorities have cut off telephone lines in Borno state in an attempt to disrupt Boko Haram’s attacks. Therefore, it often takes days for news of violence to reach state capital Maiduguri where reporters are based.

Violence has intensified in northeastern Nigeria since President Goodluck Jonathan ordered his security forces in May to crush Boko Haram’s four-year-old rebellion.

The Nigerian forces have been raiding militant camps and launching air and ground attacks on suspected hideouts of the militants over the past two months.

The military’s newly formed anti-insurgency division has been taking part in the operations.

Boko Haram says its aim is to topple the Nigerian government, which it accuses of being pro-Western.

The group has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly gun and bomb attacks in various parts of Nigeria since 2009.

Over the past four years, violence in the north of Africa’s most populous country has claimed the lives of 3,600 people, including killings by the security forces.

In May 2013, the Nigerian government imposed a state of emergency in three states in the northeast, saying Boko Haram had become a security threat in those states.