Boko Haram gunmen killed seven people in a raid on a town in northeast Nigerian Borno state near the border with Cameroon yesterday, residents said yesterday. 
Gunmen on motorcycles stormed the town of Rann in Kalabalge district overnight Friday to yesterday and opened fire on homes, fleeing residents said. 
“They opened fire on homes as we slept and killed seven people before carting away our food supplies and drugs from the only clinic in the town,” Rann resident Abba Abiso said.
He said the Islamists remained in the town for two hours before they left. 
Residents had fled the town into Cameroon and to the town of Gamboru, 28km away.
Another witness Ari Ngamsu added: “The Boko Haram gunmen planted two high calibre explosives on the way outside the town but soldiers from Gamboru succeeded in defusing them at daybreak.” 
Both witnesses spoke on Cameroonian phone lines, the only means of communication available following the destruction of telecom masts by Boko Haram in previous attacks. 
Rann and nearby villages have been targeted in a number of attacks by Boko Haram despite successes by the Nigerian military that have pushed the 
Islamists out of some areas.
The attacks have forced villagers to flee their homes, returning to them after they were clawed back by the military. 
Last month the insurgents sacked neighbouring Wumbi and Jikana villages outside Rann, killing eight people and looting food supplies.
Boko Haram which seeks to impose strict Islamic law in northern Nigeria, has killed some 20,000 and displaced more than 2.6mn people since 2009.
There has been a noticeable fall in attacks since the turn of the year and the military claims the Islamic State affiliate is severely weakened and pushed into 
border areas around Lake Chad.
Earlier this month 24 soldiers from neighbouring Niger and two Nigerian troops were killed in a Boko Haram attack in the Bosso area of Niger, prompting Chad to send in reinforcements.
But latest attacks are an indication that the rebels are not routed, and still have the 
capacity to strike.
The Nigerian army in late April began an assault on Sambisa Forest, which is believed to have pushed out remaining fighters, and has claimed the arrest of several suspected Boko Haram leaders.
Last month, fighters attacked Kutuva village in the Damboa area of Borno state, on the other side of the former game reserve, killing four and kidnapping four women.