Nigeria violence: 'Boko Haram' kill 27 in village attacks

The Islamist group Boko Haram has been accused of killing at least 27 people in attacks on two villages in north-east Nigeria, close to where hundreds of schoolgirls were seized.

Gunmen killed 10 people in the village of Shawa and a further 17 in Alagarno, police and witnesses said.
The area is near Chibok, where the schoolgirls were abducted last month.
On Tuesday 118 people died in a double bombing in the central city of Jos, also blamed on Boko Haram.
The abductions of more than 200 girls caused international outrage and prompted foreign powers to send military advisers to assist Nigeria's army.
The US state department has condemned the recent spate of attacks.
Spokeswoman Jen Psaki described them as "unconscionable, terrorist acts" and said the US would stand with the Nigerian government and people "in their efforts to defeat violent extremism".
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague also condemned the attack in Jos, calling it a "cowardly, inhumane crime".
North-east Nigeria is vulnerable to attacks because many areas are no-go zones for the military and insurgents operate freely, correspondents say.

Analysis by Will Ross, BBC News, Abuja
The big question is where is Nigeria heading? The ferocity, frequency and geographical spread of the attacks is alarming. The military continues to fail to protect civilians in the north-east despite endless promises from the government that additional help is being sent there.
Boko Haram has in the past said it wanted to create an Islamic state. The current bombing campaign is indiscriminate, killing Christians and Muslims. Following most of the devastating attacks in the remote north-east this year, the government has been silent.
These days the president and government officials take less time to condemn, but there is no real sign that the military has the capacity to turn the tide against this brutal campaign of violence. That is terrifying.

The attack on Shawa happened on Monday and that on Alagarno on Tuesday, but were only reported on Wednesday.
Witnesses in Shawa said the gunmen had been on motorcycles. Villagers in Alagarno said the suspected Boko Haram fighters had arrived at night, forcing many residents to flee into the bush.
The militants left the village some four hours later with stolen food and vehicles. One survivor told the BBC that every building had been torched.
In Jos, the search for bodies has been continuing in the rubble left by the twin bombings.

Witnesses in Jos described scenes of horror and confusion in the aftermath of the attack

Twisted wreckage from the blasts in Jos was still strewn across the road on Wednesday

Relatives of victims gathered at a mortuary in Jos to identify their loved ones

The attacks targeted a crowded market and a hospital, and the second blast went off 30 minutes after the first - killing rescue workers who had rushed to the scene.
"People were using wheelbarrows to move bodies and limbs," eyewitness Janzen Weyi told the BBC.
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the bombings, and said those who carried out the attacks were "cruel and evil".
The president announced increased measures to tackle the militants, including a multinational force around Lake Chad which comprises a battalion each from Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Nigeria.