Villagers around Auno in Borno State, have opened up on how the 30 people who were attacked and killed by Boko Haram terrorists could have escaped bei
Villagers around Auno in Borno State, have opened up on how the 30 people who were attacked and killed by Boko Haram terrorists could have escaped being killed had the military not shut the gate against them, Punch is reporting
Suspected Boko Haram on Sunday killed no fewer than 30 people, majorly late travellers in a Borno village. Villagers said the victims arrived at the military checkpoint leading into Maiduguri after the 5pm closure of the gate and had no choice but to sleep in Auno, the neighbouring village on the Maiduguri-Damaturu Highway.
The villagers, while narrating their ordeal in the hands of the terrorist group on Sunday night to the Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, said many persons were abducted. They lamented that 18 vehicles comprising trailers, buses and cars were burnt by the insurgents who laid siege to the village at about 9.50 pm on Sunday.
The villagers, who were still in shock when the governor visited them on Monday morning, said women and children were loaded into three buses and driven away. They lamented that most of those that were attacked were those that could not get into Maiduguri on Sunday as the gate to the town was shut against them having failed to arrive before the 5pm deadline.
One of the villagers, said, “It is so sad as the Boko Haram seems to have targeted the people knowing that many would have to sleep in Auno as the gate to Maiduguri would have been shut against them by 5pm.”
The governor, who was visibly shaken when he saw the charred bodies of the victims of the attack, requested the military authorities to dismantle the Auno gate from its present position and move it further away from the village so that it would be more difficult for the insurgents to gain access into the village.
He said the Borno State Government would assist those whose vehicles were destroyed in the attack as well as those whose goods were burnt alongside the vehicles transporting foodstuff and other wares to Maiduguri.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has faulted the strategy adopted by the Nigerian military in its fight against insurgency in the North-East. A member of the House of Representatives from Borno State, Satomi Ahmed, said the number of those killed by the insurgents were much, lamenting that many were burnt beyond recognition.
“It’s a huge loss. Nobody can tell you the exact number of the dead. Many were burnt beyond recognition inside their vehicles. It’s a big tragedy,” the lawmaker said.
But the Head of the military counter-insurgency operation in the North-East (Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole), Maj. Gen. Olusegun Adeniyi, blamed the victims, saying the Maiduguri/Damaturu Road would now close by 4pm in order to protect lives and property. The Army General said it had become dangerous to ‘ply and park vehicles’ along Maiduguri/Damaturu Road between 4pm and night.
He queried why motorists and truck drivers should park over 200 vehicles at Auno. He noted that the closure of the road was meant to prevent Boko Haram insurgents from attacking commuters and communities along the 132-kilometre highway. He attributed Auno’s attack to the excesses of drivers and transporters, emphasizing that the daily closure of the road would now be at 4pm.
