No less than 30 persons were on Sunday night killed by Boko Haram insurgents who invaded Auno, a village 20 kilometres from the state capital, Maiduguri.
Aside from those killed in the attack, several others, including women and children were also abducted, while 18 vehicles and several houses were razed.
An eyewitness, who gave his name simply as Ali Baba, said a large number of shops and houses were looted before being set ablaze by the suspected insurgents who sneaked into the town at a time most of the villagers had retired to bed. “I could not count the number of vehicles that were burnt. But I saw three burnt corpses in a vehicle of civilian JTF.
I also saw many houses and shops burnt to ashes,” Baba said. Residents said motorists and passengers were trapped after military authorities at the Auno checkpoint denied them entry into Maiduguri for failing to reach at the stipulated time of closing the gate, thereby forcing them to pass the night near Auno before the insurgents struck.
Borno State governor, Babagana Umara Zulum, who confirmed the attack yesterday, stormed the scene of the attack in the company of Garrison Commander, 7 Div Nigerian Army, among other top officers of the Army, to commiserate with those who survived the attack.