11 Borno villagers feared killed in Boko Haram, military clash

ELEVEN residents were feared killed and several houses and shops torched when suspected Boko Haram gunmen in a convoy of four Toyota Hilux vehicles laden with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petrol-bombs clashed with Nigerian Army troops at Ngamdu Village in Borno State along the Maiduguri-Damaturu Road.

A survivor of the clash, Hamidu Ibrahim, in a telephone interview yesterday in Maiduguri said most of the fleeing insurgents were however killed when they were pursued by the troops and their vehicles used in attacking the village destroyed.

“It was the Almighty God that saved our lives along with five other neighbours this morning, otherwise, we could have been killed by these gunmen that entered our village through Ngamdu-Goniri Road.

“As some of us fled for safety towards Maiduguri and Damaturu, the soldiers pursued them into Sambisa Forest and killed many of them,” said Ibrahim.

He said before the insurgents attacked the village, they first barricaded the Ngamu-Benishiekh Road to prevent soldiers from repelling them into the forest.

“The terrorists barricaded the road where they blocked two motorists, including a truck which they suspected were conveying foodstuff to Maiduguri. But luck however run out of them as reinforced troops from the Jakana Village immediately swung into action and killed some of the terrorists.

A senior police officer also told The Guardian yesterday that motorists and commuters were asked to make a u-turn as the terrorists had taken over the Ngamdu-Damaturu 35-kilometre Road.