BEVERLY HILLS, December 30, (THEWILL) – As Boko Haram gunmen continue to ravage the North Eastern part of the country, no fewer than seven suspected insurgents were killed in a failed market bombing in Borno State on Monday.
Local sources told THEWILL that the gunmen were killed when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) hidden in a truck loaded with agricultural produce exploded near Chikwarkir village in Biu Local Government Area of the state.
“ 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 the occupants of the van,” a security operative craving anonymity told THEWILL.
According to the security operative, “The insurgents intended to sneak into Biu Market to detonate the explosives and thereby killing many people. As you know it is harvesting period and people are taking their farms produce to the market but thank God the bomb exploded with them before they could get to the market.”
Local sources, who said they saw the corpses of the killed insurgents along the roadside near Chikwarkir village , maintained that the insurgents must have decided to strike on Monday because they know Monday and Thursday are the market days in Biu , the headquarters of Biu Local Government.
According to a traveller, Mallam Idris Yusuf, “we thought some people had accident 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 get to Biu.”
Meanwhile, scores of people were feared killed while several houses and shops were burnt when Boko Haram gunmen stormed Kautikari village in Chibok Local Government Area of the state.
Local residents who fled to Biu disclosed that the insurgents who stormed the village Monday night killed scores of people as they set several houses and shops ablaze.
“We had to flee to the bushes in the night before returning to the village in the morning to pick my belongings. I saw many corpses littered across the streets, while more than half a dozen houses and shops in the village were burnt,” he said.
However,the spokesman of the Borno State Police Command , DSP Gideon Jibrin, could not be reached on his phone for confirmation when filing this report.
