KANO: Five people were killed in Boko Haram raids on two villages near a town in northeast Nigeria where more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped nearly two months ago, residents said on Wednesday.

Gunmen dressed in military uniform stormed Tohya and Wurojene, 13 kilometers from Chibok, Borno state, late on Monday, opening fire on residents, burning homes and looting food stores.

“The attackers are obviously Boko Haram and came around 7 p.m.,” Zamani Emma, a community leader in Tohya, told AFP.

“They opened fire on the two villages and threw petrol bombs into our homes, forcing us to flee into the bush.

“When we returned the next morning we recovered five corpses and found scores of our homes burnt while all our food supplies were taken away.”

Wurojene resident Mansur Ahmed gave a similar account and said the attackers came from the Sambisa forest, where Boko Haram has camps and which has been the focus of the hunt for the missing girls.

At least 20 nomadic women were at the weekend kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram gunmen in nearby Garkin Fulani village and taken to an unknown location.

On Monday the rebels took over Biita and Izghe villages — also in Borno state — in an apparent revenge attack against the military after scores of its fighters were killed.

Nigeria’s military announced on Monday that its troops killed some 50 insurgents in Biita and recovered arms and ammunition at the weekend.