A group, suspected to be members of the terrorist gang, Boko Haram sect invaded Hambagtha and Limankara in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State on Wednesday, killing scores of people and destroying houses.
The attack came as three persons suspected to be members of the sect were apprehended in Terminus area of Jos North local government area of Plateau State but the State Police Command allayed the fears of residents, saying there was no need to panic.
The terrorists also wounded many people after looting their foodstuff, including livestock, and fled without confrontation from the hapless villagers.
Gwoza was declared as an Islamic Caliphate by the group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, last year when his fighters seized the town which is south and about 150kms from Maiduguri, the state capital.
After the deadly attacks and taken over of Gwoza by the terrorists last year, including Limankara village, no fewer than 40 policemen undergoing training at the Limankara Mobile Training Camp were declared missing, although a few of them were reported to have been located and rescued, with over 30 still missing at the time of this report.
Sources said that with the liberation of Gwoza by military troops early this year, many fleeing residents returned to Gwoza and other surrounding villages to pick up the pieces of their lives, before another group of terrorists launched fresh attacks on neighbouring communities, killing unspecified number of people.
A traveler along the route, Hamza Baba, told reporters Wednesday that he drove through a village practically deserted, even as he sighted some smoking trailer trucks by the road side.
“The trucks were attacked and burnt by Boko Haram terrorists who shot their drivers,” said Baba, a government worker travelling to his home town for the Eid Fitri celebration.
“A villager, who had luggage on his head and standing by the road side to catch a vehicle to Damaturu, informed me that the attack took place at about 8pm when the gunmen arrived Warsala shooting sporadically.
He said eight persons were found dead this morning and that he had to flee because the gunmen said they would still be back.
“Another trailer conveying commodities to Maiduguri was attacked, and the driver killed early this morning in Ngamdu village about two kilometres away from Warsala, which is a village under Yobe state.
“This has forced the village to start fleeing their homes en mass this morning. I saw more than 3000 of them leaving; many were trekking, some were conveyed in trucks.
The Damaturu-Maiduguri highway is becoming a dead zone; this is the fourth attack this week from Monday. I wonder why intensive patrol measures is not being launched to stop this”, said Baba, who communicated his concerns via social chat platform, WhatsApp.
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