Boko Haram extremists raided a village in northeast Nigeria earlier this week, killing three men and abducting seven women, police said Thursday.

The militants raided a village in the northeastern district of Askira Uba on Monday, firing weapons and burning buildings to the ground, Borno state police commissioner Damian Chukwu told AFP.

Casting doubt on government claims that Boko Haram is “technically defeated”, the police chief said officers had been deployed in the area to forestall further attacks.

“Homes and vehicles were burned in the attack which made villagers ran into the bush,” said Chukwu.

Askira Uba is near the town of Chibok, where more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted in April 2014, drawing global attention to the raging Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast.

Nigeria recently said it has forced the ‘jihadists’ out of their Sambisa forest stronghold, but residents in the area believe the ISIL-affiliated group is still present.

The raid was the latest in a string of assaults or attempted attacks in Borno state by suicide bombers, often young women.

At last 20,000 people have been killed since the start of the Boko Haram insurgency in 2009. Violence continues, despite government and military claims the group is on the verge of defeat.

Source: AFP