In a press release issued late on Thursday, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for West Africa, Mohammed Ibn Chambas, denounced the “renewed waves of attacks” in Nigeria’s Borno State and “the continuous violence against innocent civilians.”

According to media reports, militants raided a remote town in Borno State on Sunday resulting in at least 33 people killed and the large abductions of women and children. Although the identity of the attackers remains unknown, Nigeria has recently been plagued by violence committed by the Islamist terrorist group known as Boko Haram.

In his statement,  Chambas extended the sympathy of the UN system to the families of the victims and the people and Government of Nigeria while also calling on the Nigerian authorities “to curb the continuous attacks taking place in the North-East and bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice.”

Displaced population at a refuge site in Niger’s Diffa region. Boko Haram’s worsening violence has forced tens of thousands to flee northeastern Nigeria to neighbouring countries. Photo: Katy Thiam/OCHA