A truck carrying Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) hit a landmine on a highway causing an explosion which injured some of the passengers, officials report.
The displaced persons were on their way from Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, back to Gamboru-Ngala, a border community liberated from Boko Haram, when the explosion occured.
The incident occurred barely an hour after military authorities in Maiduguri officially approved the transportation of the IDPs and food items to the liberated border community.
Bello Moduganari, the chairman of the National Union Of Road Transport Workers, has confirmed the incident to Premium Times reporters.
He said: “We just received the sad news that one of the vehicles that we had cleared to move to Gamboru-Ngala ran into a landmine at Ngom village, some 20km away from Maiduguri. There is no report of death in the incident so far, but we have arranged to take the victims to the hospital here in Maiduguri. We learnt the landmine was planted in the centre of the road and an unsuspecting land cruiser jeep ran over it.”
The soldiers were reportedly escorting the convoy of more than 200 trucks, pickup vans and passenger buses conveying foodstuffs and people.