Two Non-Government Organisations, NGOs, working in Borno State, on Wednesday l, disclosed that no fewer than 12 loggers were killed in the Nigeria’s northeast state near the border with Cameroon when their vehicle hit a landmine in an area with an active presence of Boko Haram terrorists.
It was gathered that the loggers were headed to the bush to collect firewood when the their vehicle hit a mine suspected to have been planted by Boko Haram jihadists on the highway outside Pulka village, the NGOs said in two reports seen by AFP on the incident, which happened on Monday.
Northeast Nigeria is at the heart of a more than decade-long jihadist insurgency where militants still target rural areas even after they have been pushed back from the large swaths of land they controlled at the height of the conflict.
“Men suspected to be Boko Haram… planted explosive… and killed 12 people while many were injured along Pulka to Gwoza route,” one of the reports read.
According to the other report, which gave the same toll, seven other loggers were injured “out of which three are very critical and have been evacuated to Maiduguri for further medical attention”.
