Abuja, July 11 (RHC)-- The Nigeria-based Boko Haram Islamist group has killed eight civilians in Nigeria and has slit the throats of five more in Niger, local sources say.

According to area residents, gunmen shot down the civilians in Gamboru, an abandoned village in Nigeria's remote northeast, on Friday morning. The victims had gone back to Gamboru after they had been told that “the town was safe for them.... While they were inspecting their homes, Boko Haram gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on them killing five men and three women,” said Babagana Bukar, a Nigerian originally from Gamboru who is now residing in Fotokol.

The far northern Cameroonian town of Fotokol, about 300 meters across a small river from Gamboru, is home to many residents who have fled the Boko Haram atrocities.

In another deadly incident, Boko Haram militants brutally killed five civilians near Bosso, a town located in southeastern Niger.  “Five employees of a Nigerien company had their throats slit yesterday evening in Dagaya, a village near Bosso,” Bako Mamadou, the mayor of Bosso, told AFP on Friday, adding that the “circumstances” of the attack have not been known yet, though security measures had been implemented in the area.