Boko Haram abducts 7 travelers near army checkpoint in Borno

Seven travellers were on Thursday abducted by armed gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram terrorists along the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway in Borno State.

This was revealed by a witness and a passenger who escaped the attack and preferred not to be named.

According to the source, the insurgents, who were in two Hilux vehicles waylaid two unsuspecting vehicles – a Volkswagen golf and a Toyota Hiace Mass Transit bus, belonging to Adamawa Sunshine Transport Company.

The gunmen, who were in camouflage military uniform, took seven passengers from the vehicles and drove away.

The eyewitness said, “They came in two Hilux jeeps; and as we were driving towards Auno, after Jakana village, they stormed the highway and stopped a Volkswagen golf car that was ahead and forced every person, including the driver out.

“While this was happening, a 19-seater Toyota Hiace bus of the Adamawa Sunshine Toyota ran into the scene and could not escape the gunmen. So they forced two passengers on the bus to come down and then took all of them away in their vehicle.

“While this was happening, our driver quickly reversed back and made a u-turn to Jakana where we joined other vehicles there.

“We spent about two hours and 30 minutes in Jakana until we saw a reticulated truck coming from the direction of Maiduguri. After gauging the risk, all the vehicles that stopped at Jakana decided to summon the courage to proceed carefully until we got to the scene of the attack.

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“At the spot, we met the golf car abandoned in the middle of the road with all the doors left open. When we got to Auno, we saw the driver of Adamawa Sunshine being questioned by soldiers. He then told our driver that two of his passengers have been taken away.”

The attack, the eyewitness said took place just a few kilometres from Auno village and not far from a military checkpoint.

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