After Nigerian army abandoned town, Boko Haram slaughtered at least 60

Boko Haram militants. [File, Standard]

The Islamist militant group Boko Haram killed at least 60 people in the northeast Nigerian town of Rann on Monday, a day after it was abandoned by the military, Amnesty International and security sources said on Friday.

The attack on Rann, home to a camp housing tens of thousands of people displaced by the Islamist insurgency, was one of the group’s bloodiest.

It came two weeks after Boko Haram had overrun the same town, driving out Nigerian soldiers and signaling its re-emergence as a force capable of capturing army bases.

The bloodshed is a challenge for President Muhammadu Buhari in particular as he seeks a second successive four-year term in an election on Feb. 16, having been elected in 2015 partly on a promise to restore security.

A Nigerian army spokesman denied that troops had left the town and that Boko Haram had killed the people.