Aid workers ‘killed’ in Nigeria

Five aid workers abducted last month in north-east Nigeria’s Borno State have been killed, reportedly by terrorists.

The men were working for Action Against Hunger, the International Rescue Committee, Rich International and the country’s State Emergency Management Agency, Nigeria’s president confirmed.

Muhammadu Buhari blamed Boko Haram and vowed to bring the killers to justice.

He also pledged to “wipe out the remaining vestiges” of the Islamist group, which has dominated the region.

The group’s decade-long insurgency has left thousands dead, displaced many more, and resulted in a humanitarian crisis. Aid workers have frequently been targeted.

The Nigerian online newspaper Premium Times says the killers belong to a sect of Boko Haram and posted a 35-second video of the executions.

According to the newspaper, five hooded armed men stand with the blindfolded hostages.

An unidentified voice delivers a speech to “the infidels” telling them to “repent and turn to God” before one of the gunmen orders the others to shoot their captives.

In strongly-worded statements both Action Against Hunger and the International Rescue Committee paid tribute to the workers who were executed.

Action Against Hunger said it deeply regretted that its calls for their release had not been answered.

International Rescue Committee condemned the killings as “senseless” and “barbaric”.

Paying tribute to their staff member Luka Filibus who, they said, had been “forced to flee his home and was still compelled to alleviate the suffering of children”, they demanded the return of his body.