Boko Haram burns down village of Shawa, Nigeria

SHAWA , Nigeria, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Members of the Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram destroyed the Nigerian village of Shawa, injuring residents and burning buildings, witnesses said.

An eyewitness and member of a youth vigilance group told the Nigerian newspaper The Punch that at least 20 heavily armed Boko Haram members arrived in Shawa on bicycles early Sunday morning, while residents were asleep, and shot at homes. The villagers fled into a nearby forest and watched as the invaders set fire to all the village's structures before leaving.

The village is near Chibok, where 267 girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram from a school in 2014.

There were no deaths reported in Sunday's attack, but many were reported injured, some critically, and the village remains deserted.

The Islamic State-aligned Boko Haram has waged a guerrilla-style war of terrorism in Nigeria and surrounding countries since 2002, killing thousands and displacing hundreds of thousands in an attempt to establish a Muslim caliphate.