TheCable

Suspected members of the Boko Haram sect have ambushed a team of oil exploration workers and security operatives in Borno state.

A senior military source, who disclosed this to TheCable, said the incident happened at Magumeri in Gubio local government area of the state, on Tuesday.

The source said the workers were returning from Borno Yeso area of Magumeri when they ran into their attackers.

He said of the ten vehicles that conveyed the workers to Magumeri, only one returned.

“Five persons who escaped the ambush attack are currently receiving medical attention at the Borno State  Specialist Hospital,” he said.

“Many are believed to have been killed.”

The source did not reveal whether the oil workers were staffers of the Nigerian Nations Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) or private companies.

Efforts made to confirm the development from the authorities were unfruitful as Victor Isukku, spokesman of the Borno state police command, did not answer calls or reply the text message sent to his telephone.

Also, Onyema Nwachukwu, a deputy director of army public relations at operation Lafiya Dole, neither picked calls nor responded to a text message sent.

In 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to fast-track oil exploration in the north, specifically in the Chad Basin and Kolmani river.

This followed the reported discovery of hydrocarbons by Shell in the Chad Basin and Kolmani River.

Boko Haram has stepped up attacks in Maiduguri and its environs since Tukur Burutai, chief of army staff, ordered his men to capture Abubakar Shekau, leader of the sect, within 40 days.

On Monday, five suicide bombers attacked two internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps in Borno, killing seven people.