“The attackers went to churches with bombs and guns,” Timothy James, a Chibok resident said by phone.
“From what I gathered, dozens of worshippers, including men, women and children were killed,” he said, explaining that his information had come from people who fled the affected area and through phone calls.
Enoch Mark, an outspoken Chibok leader since the April 14 kidnappings, gave a similar account, telling AFP in Lagos, “presently, as we are talking now, we are under attack”.
“I was told the attackers burnt at least three churches to the ground.”
Mark further said that the military had not responded to distress calls after the attack began.
“They just went and got a hiding place in the bush,” he told AFP.
While it was not immediately possible to verify the charge, if true, it would likely raise further questions about the military effort in the northeast, the epicentre of Boko Haram’s five-year deadly uprising.
A military source said this evening that over 80 people were killed in the attack.