More facts have emerged as to how terrorists, suspected to be members of the Islamic State of West African Province, ISWAP, detained seven security personnel and released other travellers in the North East.
The security personnel, PRNigeria gathered, were nabbed by the ISWAP elements on November 2, 2021 along the Damaturu-Maiduguri Road, during an ambush.
The terrorists, who were armed and dressed in military uniforms, had staged an ambush at Tamsukawu village in Kaga Local Government of Borno, 7km away from Ngamdu, a Super Camp of the Nigerian Military.
Ismaeel Bankura, an eyewitness, who escaped the ambush, told PRNigeria that the terrorists intercepted 31 persons on seven vehicles that were heading to Maiduguri.
Mr Bankura said: “They separated the men from the women and kept about 17 of us in one hummer bus. After moving for about an hour, our vehicle began overheating and developed mechanical fault. They then asked us to join the other buses.
“They asked each and every one of us to present his identification cards and phones for screening. It was at that process that seven security personnel were identified.
“Some of the pictures on mobile phone exposed the identities of the passengers. One of the personnel claimed that images on his phone were mistakenly shared in a WhatsApp message which accidentally got into his phone.
“While they were searching, a fighter jet belonging to the Nigerian Military began patrolling the area, and they told us to hide under the trees, while they covered their vehicles with leaves.
“Later, they called the driver of the hummer to ask him why he was driving a car with a government plate number, and he replied that he was using the number to ease himself from security checks on the road.
“At about 6pm, the Commander of the terrorists asked us to come forward. He then said ‘We are soldiers of the Khilafa of Africa. And we have been existing since the period of Yar’adua and attacked by security personnel regularly.’
“There was no Christian that was abducted and I won’t know if the security personnel that were detained were Christians.
“There were two Christians in our vehicles; both of them are soldiers who disguised and managed to escaped.
“At about 7:30 pm, the Amir asked one of his boys to take our pictures and told us to follow a particular route to leave. He asked if we needed any help from them to escort us to the road. But we politely declined.
“It took us about one hour to arrive at a village, where we passed the night. The villagers helped in getting us to Tamsukawu where we continued with our journey to Maiduguri.”
