Armed gunmen on Sunday night opened heavy fire on travellers along Abuja-Kaduna highway, killing two passengers aboard a J5 bus.
DAILY NIGERIAN learnt that the incident occurred between 10:30pm and 11:00pm but there was no response from security operatives despite the proximity to a security check post.
A victim, Ibrahim Umar Bari, who narrated his encounter with the gunmen on his Facebook post said he could not confirm if hostages were taken by the gunmen but they opened fire on quite a number of vehicles and punctured their tyres.
“From the way they operated, it was obvious they came for a killing spree… I have never seen live flying bullets in my entire life until last night. We sighted them some 300 meters away and ran for dear life. They came close to our hiding points still opening fire and from the sound I heard, those were not ordinary guns,” Mr Bari narrated.
He confirmed that the vehicle they were traveling in sustained two bullet holes.
Spokesman for the Kaduna State police command, Mohammed Jalige, did not return DAILY NIGERIAN call to seek response on the matter.
Recent attacks on the beleaguered highway
On November 21, suspected terrorists kidnapped an unspecified number of travelers along the expressway.
DAILY NIGERIAN gathered that dozens of terrorists opened fire sporadically on travelers around 4pm, forcing many drivers to lose control.
Sources told DAILY NIGERIAN that many passengers who attempted to run were fired at, while those who cooperated were shepherded into the bush.
A former gubernatorial aspirant in the 2019 election in Zamfara State, Sagir Hamidu, was killed on the spot.
Barely hours after the November 21 attack, the terrorists stuck again and abducted an unspecified number of travellers on the highway.
“We saw at least 4 vehicles with broken windshields and damaged tyres abandoned near the highway.The bandits attacked at about 4.30 pm,” a lucky traveller has said.
“People were running helter-skelter, although security agents came to the scene, but the bandits had already went away into the bush with many travellers.”
