KANO, Nigeria, Feb 27, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Jihadists in northeast Nigeria

have since Friday killed 27 people in four separate attacks, security sources
and residents told AFP on Sunday.

   The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), who split from rival Boko
Haram jihadists in 2016, has escalated attacks in recent weeks, despite
ongoing military operations.

   Late on Saturday, ISWAP killed 24 civilians in three villages in Borno
state, an anti-jihadist militia leader and a resident told AFP.

   They said the civilians were targeted for helping troops fighting the
militants.

   Military spokespeople and local officials have not yet confirmed the
attacks and did not respond to AFP's requests for comment.

   The villages are on the fringes of Sambisa forest, a major jihadist
hideout.

   Fighters drove into Sabongarin Kimba, Mandara-Girau and Ngama villages in
Biu district, targeting residents, the sources said.

   "The terrorists killed 24 people in the three villages last night," an
anti-jihadist militia leader Mustapha Karimbe said.

   "They moved from village to village, selecting their targets and
slaughtering them," said Karimbe, adding that nine residents were killed in
Sabongarin Kimba, seven in Mandara-Girau and eight in Ngama.

   He said soldiers had enlisted the help of villagers to clear shrubs along
the highway linking the villages, which the militants use as cover for
ambushes.

   The attacks were "punishment for the residents' aiding soldiers," he
added.

   The jihadists had sent a warning to villagers not to clear the foliage
threatening "grave consequences", said another militia member, Umar Ari,
giving the same death toll.

   Resident of nearby Biu town, Ahmad Babagana said the militants stormed
Sabongarin Kimba around 2000 GMT before proceeding to Ngama and Mandara-
Girau.

   "It was clear they knew the residents they were after," said Babagana who
also gave the same death toll.

   Late on Friday, ISWAP staged another attack in Chibok, where Boko Haram
kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in 2014, sparking international outcry.

   Fighters in trucks and motorcycles stormed the Christian village of
Kautikeri in Chibok district, killing three residents and destroying a
church, two residents said.

  "They came around 5:45 pm (1645 GMT) and attacked the village with guns,
killing three people and burning a church," Kautikeri resident Samson Bulus
told AFP.

   Another resident, Samson Silas, gave the same account.

   It was the second jihadist attack on the village in a month.

   On January 20, ISWAP killed two residents and abducted 20 children,
according to two residents and a community leader.

   The military says it has killed 180 fighters and arrested 130 others
suspected of terrorism in the northeast since the end of January alone.

   The 12-year-old conflict has killed at least 40,000 people from fighting
alone and displaced more than two million from their homes.