BREAKING: Explosion Along Maiduguri-Damboa Highway Kills 9 Passengers
At least a driver and other eight passengers were on Saturday killed with others sustained serious injuries when their bus stepped onto an Improvised Explosive Devices (EIDs) suspected to have been planted by Boko Haram terrorists along the Maiduguri- Damboa-Biu federal highway.
The incident took place at about 11:30 am when a retinue/convoy of private and commercial vehicles was escorted by troops from Damboa to Maiduguri.
It was learnt that the incident occured near Gidan Kaji (Poultry House) located in the Konduga Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.
The Poultry House has remained closed and deserted for over a decade following the Boko Haram crisis.
This is coming barely a few hours when a former Borno State Commissioner of Trade, Commerce and Industry, Hon. Yerima Lawan Kareto lambasted the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who argued that Borno is safe, contrary to reports that security agencies seem to be overwhelmed by terrorists following renewed attacks.
According to the District Head of Damboa, Lawan Maina in a telephone call to journalists, all those who sustained injuries had been evacuated and admitted at the state Specialists Hospital Maiduguri, while the remains of the victims are under profiling.
“It is very sad to inform you about the explosion that took place along Damboa-Maiduguri road this morning.
“A driver of a hummer bus and seven passengers died at the spot, while many others sustained various degrees of injury.
“I want to appeal to the federal government and the security agencies to redouble their efforts in complementing Borno State Government’s support and cooperation to defeat Boko Haram terrorists in the North-east sub region,” Maina stated.
At press time, Governor Babagana Zulum and his entourage were at the State Specialist Hospital where he ordered free treatment for the injured.
Meanwhile, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Commissioner of Trade, Commerce and Industry, Hon. Kareto, has extended an invitation to the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Idris to visit Borno and follow him to Damasak, the Council Headquarters of Mobbar LGA alone.
Kareto who hails from Damasak, hitherto a liberated border town with Niger Republic and about 190.5km drive from Maiduguri, the state capital, said he would personally drive the minister through the thick and thin, so as to see things for himself, before making any statement on the increasing renewed Boko Haram onslaught across the region.
