[DAWN] At least 26 people were killed when suspected Boko Haram... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
turbans stormed a village in northeast Nigeria
... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border...
and a government warplane opened fire to repel the attackers, local residents and a security source said on Tuesday.
The warplane strafed Boko Haram fighters fleeing in pick-up trucks after raiding Dille, near Lassa in the south of Borno State, for several hours on Monday. The attackers fired on inhabitants and burned homes and churches.
"I counted 26 corpses yesterday evening," one of the residents, Dauda Illiya told Rooters.
Most of the deaths occurred during the raid but cannon fire from the government jet also killed at least six civilians — four women and two children, residents said.
"The pilot was just spraying bullets anywhere ... People were running here and there. Many people were maimed from the bullets," said a local man, Suleiman Haruna.
Nigeria's defence headquarters in Abuja did not respond to a request for comment on the incident, but a security source in Borno State confirmed the deployment of the military plane.
The residents and the security source said 20 turbans were killed by local vigilantes who fought back, but this could not be confirmed as witnesses said the raiders carried off their dead in their trucks.
Nigeria's armed forces are facing a fierce offensive in the northeast by the Boko Haram, whose marauding bands of fighters have stepped up attacks against towns and villages after kidnapping more than 200 schoolgirls in April.
That abduction triggered an international outcry and increased support from Western governments for President
Goodluck Jonathan... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
's fight against Boko Haram, which has killed thousands and kidnapped hundreds since launching an uprising in 2009.