Members of Islamic terror group, Boko Haram, have killed several residents of Benisheik town in Yobe State and travellers along the busy Damaturu-Maiduguri Highway in what is seen as a reprisal attack.
The incident is coming 10 days after the residents of Benisheik town clashed with the suspected sect members, which led to the death of 14 people, with three of their members caught alive mobbed by angry youths.
According to witnesses, the dreaded sect members stormed the town between 6pm and 7pm on Tuesday and overpowered the security agents in the town before killing scores of residents and travellers in a shootout that lasted throughout the night.
Officials of the National Union of Road Transport Workers told Channels Television in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, that several travellers plying the busy Damaturu-Maiduguri Highway as at that time could not proceed on their trips for hours, while the sect members killed scores of people during the attack.
“Travellers were asked to produce their ID cards, after which they were lined up before shooting them and so it continued throughout the night,” a source said.
The source says though security forces were recently deployed to the town, sequel to recent attack by the hoodlums, they may have been overpowered during the attack as several government property and some houses within town were said to have been razed down by the insurgents.
Although, the Military Joint Task Force is yet to confirm the attack, witnesses said the Damaturu-Maiduguri Highway remain less busy throughout today for fear of further attacks.
Channels Television.
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