Seven suspected Boko Haram
terrorists were on Monday killed when an Improvised Explosive Device
hidden in a Toyota Pick-up van they were driving in exploded before they
could get to Biu Market, Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
A security source, who spoke on condition
of anonymity with our correspondent from Biu, said the suspected
terrorists hid the explosives among bags of beans and maize to create
the impression that they were traders going to the market. But the IEDs
exploded before they could get to the market, which the source said was
their main target.
He said, “A Toyota pickup van loaded with
maize and beans with IED hidden under it belonging to Boko Haram
insurgents exploded near Chikwarkir village of Biu killing all its seven
occupants.
“The insurgents must have intended to
sneak into Biu Market to detonate the explosives and thereby kill many
people. As you know, it is harvest period and people are taking their
farm produce to the market but thank God the bomb exploded before they
could get to the market.”
The soldier said that the insurgents must
have specifically chosen Monday because they knew that Monday and
Thursday were market days in Biu town, the headquarters of Biu Local
Government Area of the state.
A transporter, Yusuf Ahmed, said they saw
on Monday the corpses of the dead Boko Haram members along the roadside
near Chikwarkir village.
He said, “We thought they were victims of
an auto crash but the villagers told us they were members of Boko Haram
sect that were trying to carry explosives to Biu Market but it exploded
before they even got to Biu.”
In a related development, scores of
people were also said to have been killed and houses and shops burnt
when Boko Haram insurgents attacked Kautikari village in Chibok Local
Government Area of Borno State.
A resident of the area, who fled to Biu,
told our correspondent on the telephone on Tuesday that the insurgents
stormed the village on Monday night and killed scores of people and
burnt some houses and shops.
He said, “We had to flee to the bush in the night before returning to the village the following day to pick our belongings.”
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