Boko Haram abducts scores of travellers on Maiduguri-Damaturu road

Gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram terrorists on Thursday abducted scores of commuters on the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway.

The insurgents were said to have laid ambush for many commercial buses plying the highway, stopped them and abducted their passengers before whisking the victims into the bush.

One of the passengers that escaped said that the incident occurred around 1 pm, The Punch reported.

The passenger disclosed that the insurgents bore heavy weapons.

He stated that they positioned themselves on the highway at Garin-Kuturu near Auno, in Konduga Local Government Area of Borno State, few kilometres from the state capital, Maiduguri.

The traveller disclosed that some passengers hurriedly abandoned the buses and raced backed towards Damaturu, where they were coming from, to avoid being kidnapped or killed.

He disclosed that they later rejoined the bus after the military cleared the insurgents off the road.

Another commuter said that the insurgents fired into the air as they got close to the scene of the attack.

Upon hearing the gunshots, he said, their driver quickly turned the vehicle around and sped back towards where they were coming from.

The newspaper quoted a military source as stating that troops engaged the insurgents for about one hour, cleared them off the road and escorted the travellers into Maiduguri.