The incident took place on Wednesday, when a large group of Boko Haram terrorists fleeing a military offensive on their camp in Nganzai district opened fire on four cars just outside Jingalta village, 70 kilometres (45 miles) north of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, killing all 20 passengers inside, local sources said.
“We received information of an attack by Boko Haram militants on four cars near Jingalta village where they shot dead all the occupants of the vehicles before setting the cars ablaze,” stated Babakura Kolo, a member of an area vigilante staff aiding the army in preventing the Takfiri group in Maiduguri.
“The Takfiri militants were fleeing a military operation against one of their enclaves in the area around 9:30 am (0830GMT) when they came across the vehicles on the highway and opened fire on them,” Kolo said.
The militants, driving pick-up trucks and motorcycles, then looted and burnt the entire village whose residents had already fled following the attack, he added.
The death toll was approved by Jibir Hassan, a commercial bus driver who arrived at the scene after the militants had escaped and said, “When we arrived at Jingalta village, we found it smoldering, with everything completely burnt and just outside the village we saw bodies sprawled by the roadside, 20 of them in all and near the bodies were charred remains of four cars, still smoldering,”
Boko Haram Takfiri militants regularly kill the travelers they come across and attack villages while fleeing military offensives against their bases in the area, he said.
According to Hassan, Boko Haram killed five travelers and injured another in nearby Mile 40 village on Monday.
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