Attack by Boko Haram kills 30 persons at a military checkpoint in Auno community, a town in the North-Eastern Nigeria's Borno state.
Eight trucks loaded with goods and 18 vehicles all burnt down. TVC reported. At least 30 persons have been confirmed dead while 18 vehicles including 8 trucks loaded with goods were razed by the attacking boko haram fighters at auno community in the state.
The incident occured at a military checkpoint where commuters are not allowed to pass after 5 pm and the victims were caught unawares by the fighters around 10 pm Sunday night.
Eyewitness said corpses are still being brought into hospitals in Maiduguri for identification and the fighters are said to have abducted an undisclosed number of persons to an unknown locaction.
Other witnesses said the fire was aggravated by a military fuel tanker which rammed into parked commercial vehicles already torched by the insurgents.
An unspecified number of women, according to some of the witnesses, were said to have been abducted by the terrorists before fleeing the village along the Maiduguri/Damaturu highway. There was, however, no independent confirmation of the abduction.
Auno is a town situated along Kano –Maiduguri road, under konduga local government area. Borno state. it is approximately 35 to 40 kilometers away from Maiduguri.The victims were caught up in the curfew imposed by the government on parts of the state because they got to the checkpoint few minutes past 5pm.” according to an eye witiness
A commercial driver, who gave his name as Adamu Tella, said he saw a number of burnt bodies being conveyed in a Civilian JTF vehicle while driving past the scene, a 24-minutes’ drive from Maiduguri.
“I also saw many vehicles loaded with goods, many houses and shops burnt down to ashes,” Adamu added.
A passenger, Haruna Yunusa, said he “counted 21 vehicles, including trailers, some of them still being burnt as at the time I passed through the village this (yesterday) morning.”
“I also noticed that so many shops and houses were burnt. Some of the vehicles were still being consumed by the fire because of the items they were carrying.”
Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum, who visited the scene, said he was told by the villagers that about 30 people were burnt in the fire
He sympathized with the people and called on them to give the necessary cooperation to the military.
The governor, who collaborated allegations by the survivors of the attack that soldiers left them unprotected, said he had made several appeals to the military to establish a unit in Auno to no avail.
Nigerian Muhammadu Buhari led federal government claimed the dreaded Islamist terrorist that has been fighting since 2009 have been defeated with they keep on attacking and abducting for ransoms.
Attacks and kidnappings by Boko Haram, Herdsmen, and Banditry criminals against the defenseless Nigerians have increased since 2015.
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