Commuting along the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway was halted again for the fourth time in a week, as security operatives battle to prevent Eidel Fitri holiday travelers from driving into an ambush by the insurgents.
Villagers reported 15 persons killed on Tuesday night as Boko Haram fighters carried on days of attacks on the only safe route linking other parts of the country with Maiduguri, the birth place of the Boko Haram insurgency.
Warsala, a village located on the boundary between Borno and Yobe states, in northeast Nigeria, was the latest community along the Kano-Maiduguri highway, that is being attacked by Boko Haram extremists.
The agrarian community is not more than 5km from Ngamdu, another village along the highway that buried 10 persons killed by Boko Haram terrorists on Friday night.
The Tuesday night attack on Warsala came barely 24 hours after the same terrorists attacked Mainok, a village located along the same highway and about 40km away from Warsala.
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 2 kilometres away from Warsala, which is a village under Yobe state.
