Jutha Gupah, Maiduguri
Suspected Boko Haram insurgents have killed two people with the kidnap of 25 others in an ambush of civilian convoy on Tuesday along Waraveh-Gwoza road in Borno state. The attack was suspected to have been carried out by a Boko Haram faction of Abubakar Shekau in Sambisa Forest. The insurgents, according to residents of Pulka, burst from Mandara Mountains and fringes of Sambisa Forest to attack travelers along 135-kilometre Maiduguri-Gwoza road. Confirming the attack on Wednesday in Maiduguri, Senator Ali Ndume, representing Borno south senatorial district said: “Our people were attacked by insurgents on vehicles under military escort at about 3pm yesterday (Tuesday) between Waraveh village and Gwoza. “One of the kidnapped women called me on phone this morning (Wednesday), but ended up texting me that there were females among the abductees. I’m not sure of number of people kidnapped that fateful afternoon,” he said. He urged the military to address the black spots of Mandara Mountains and the Gambouru/Kala/Balge/Abadam axis in northern Borno state. A member of Civilian JTF in Pulka, Yakubu Isa also said: “A civilian and a soldier were the two people killed in the ambush. The attacked bus, which was conveying 25 passengers, was also taken away by the insurgents. He said that insurgents opened fire in the middle of the convoy but the driver of vehicle managed to escape. “Some of the passengers made it through while others returned, but one was seized by the insurgents and took him into the forest,” he said. The Maiduguri-Bama-Gwoza road was closed by the military in 2014, but was re-opened last year; because of troops’ sustained regional fight against Boko Haram insurgency in Borno and the border areas with Cameroon. Speaking on terrorists’ hideouts, Isa said: “The suspected insurgents could have either burst from Sambisa Forest or Mandara Mountains, located east and south of Gwoza and Pulka. “Immediately they launched attacks, the insurgents flee into the mountains, and hide inside caves that are difficult to penetrate for clearance operations hill dwellers held captives for about a decade.” He said despite reopening of road, civilian convoys need military escorts to ply, because of sporadic attacks on fringes of mountain and forest.
