[Mhiz Rebecca]

At least seven passengers were killed and
many others, including an escort team of
soldiers, injured when gunmen believed to be
Boko Haram insurgents attacked a convoy of
motorists along the newly opened Maiduguri-
Biu highway, witnesses said.
The Maiduguri-Biu highway, which passes
through Damboa Village, was one of the most
dangerous routes hunted by Boko Haram who
forced motorists to avoid plying it for nearly
three years until the Nigerian military
recaptured and opened it last year.
Despite it being declared safe, travellers are
not allowed to ply the road without a military
escort.
A witness, Dauda Pambe, informed PREMIUM
TIMES that he was among the travellers being
escorted by soldiers from Maiduguri to Biu on
Saturday morning when the gunmen launched
the ambush attack.
“We were somewhere between Bulabulin and
DogonWaya villages when the Boko Haram
gunmen opened fire on the vehicles ahead of
us in the convoy”, said Mr. Pambe.
“The first vehicle was hit on the tire and the
driver could not proceed so the passengers
alighted and fled into the bush; the second
vehicle was a pickup van carrying many
passengers, and many of them could not
escape”.
“They exchanged fire for sometime as many of
us remained in the vehicles ducking to avoid
being hit with bullet. When the shooting
stopped and the Boko Haram fighters left, we
had about seven passengers that were killed
and some soldiers too were injured”, the
witness said.
Unofficial sources within the security circle
said days before the Saturday morning
incident, a group of Boko Haram insurgents
had suffered some loss when the military
repelled an attack from them at the same
location.
The incident came three days after Boko
Haram gunmen suffered a heavy loss of
members after a failed attempt to attack a
military base in Kamaya Village near Buratai
town of Borno State. In that incident Boko
Haram gunmen had in their large numbers
stormed a military base in Kamaya with the
intention of dislodging the soldiers and taking
over the command of the area.
Neither the police nor the military has issued
a statement on Maiduguri – Biu road attack.
Text messages sent to the spokesman of the
military in Borno, Victor Isuku, and that of the
Borno police, Onyema Nwachukwu, asking for
reactions were not responded to as at the time
of this report.