BY NDAHI MARAMA

MAIDUGURI— The ongoing violence in Borno State continued with suspected Boko Haram terrorists attacking two buses on the Bama-Gwoza Road, killing 19 people including a district head, Tuesday evening.

Eighteen of the victims were said to be traders returning from a market at Pulka around 4pm. Pulka is a border town with Cameroon and 119 kilometres south of Maiduguri, the state capital.

However, the district head was killed by suspected terrorists who invaded Sabon Kasuwa village of Hawul Local Government Area of the state same evening.

The gunmen, according to Hamba Tada an eyewitness, ambushed the traders at Wala village, 10 kilometres to Gwoza, and forced them down from their vehicles and identified themselves as terrorists.

Tada said: “After chanting God is great in Arabic, the insurgents asked the traders to identify themselves first, before the drivers were allowed to proceed.

“Those who identified themselves as Gwoza residents were shot dead. Unfortunately, all the occupants of the two buses were residents of the town, and that was how the traders were killed that Tuesday evening.

“Non-residents of Gwoza were allowed free passage.”
He told Vanguard, yesterday, that the selective killings of the traders was due to alleged reports that some of the villagers were providing information to both military and other security agencies about the Boko Haram sect members, leading to the arrest of one of the sect’s commanders last month.

The state Police Commissioner, Tanko Lawal, confirmed the story yesterday, saying that 18 people were feared dead at a village in Gwoza Local Government Area.

He said the traders were returning from a market in Pulka, when they were killed by the terrorists in an ambush.