10 Days Into New Year: How Tragic Deaths, Killings, Abductions Have Fouled Early 2020

10 Days Into New Year: How Tragic Deaths, Killings, Abductions Have Fouled Early 2020

The year 2020 has started on a really bad note for many people as tragic deaths, killings, and abductions take over.

The first 10 days of 2020 have been tainted by deaths from insurgent attacks, bandit activities, road accidents, and attacks by gunmen, check by Daily Trust Saturday shows.

There were also gas explosions and fire outbreaks in some parts of the country.

More than 143 deaths were reported from these incidents while there were 63 and 58 reported cases of abduction and injuries from road crashes respectively.

A total of 39 people were killed in Boko Haram’s renewed attacks in parts of the North-East, with casualties numbering over 30 in a single attack at a crowded market on the Nigerian-Cameroon border on January 7.
The people were killed after a bomb ripped through the market on a bridge connecting the Nigerian town of Gamboru and Cameroon’s Fotokol.

Authorities said more than 35 other people, including both Nigerians and Cameroonians, were injured and taken to a local hospital in the wake of the attack on Monday.

On January 4, Boko Haram insurgents killed two siblings and a farmer in Payasatan Bilaburdar Village under Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State.

On January 8, at least three soldiers were killed in intense fighting between Nigerian Army troops and insurgents around a key garrison town in Monguno, in the Lake Chad area. Though details of the attack remain sources said the soldiers died when an army vehicle burst into flames after a car filled with explosives rammed into a convoy.

Residents in Monguno said a rocket-propelled grenade struck a refugee camp housing thousands of people, causing a fire that gutted hundreds of tents.

“We still don’t know if anyone was killed in the camp but some people sustained burns,” said Monguno resident Kulo Gana.

AFP later reported Gana as saying that eight people died and 20 were injured. Other reported cases were on January 9 were gunmen believed to be members of Boko Haram ambushed vehicles travelling along the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway and abducted seven travelers.

The insurgents on January 6 killed three men and looted dozens of bicycles from Bila-Amboldar, a village in Chibok area of Borno State.

On January 9, suspected Boko Haram members ambushed vehicles travelling along the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway and abducted seven travelers while a chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) was declared missing after an insurgents attack on January 7 in Michika.

The New Year began on a devastating note in Kogi State with news of killings and destruction of property by invaders.

On January 1, gunmen suspected to be herdsmen numbering over 100 launched a deadly attack on Tawari community in Kogi Local Government Area of Kogi State killing 23 people and injuring many others, according to initial reports.

However, a latest report indicates that the death toll arising from the attack has risen to 30 while others who sustained various degrees of injuries are still being treated in hospitals.

The attackers during the invasion also razed many houses in the community, including the palace of the traditional ruler, Alhaji Yusuf Idris, as well as some places of worship.

On January 4, a gas explosion which occurred at Sabon Tasha area of Kaduna left about eight persons dead. Among the victims of the gas explosion were the Chairman of Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, Prof Simon Mallam, who was in a barber’s shop for a haircut when the tragedy struck.

Although, the initial report puts the death toll at five, the Department of Petroleum Resources, said yesterday that a combined team of its officials and those of Kaduna environmental agency have recovered mutilated bodies of three more victims at the scene of the January 4 gas explosion, bringing the figure to eight.

The tragic killings continued to reverberate across parts of the country with the killings of no fewer than 12 persons in Plateau State, while on January 8, suspected bandits attacked Kasanya community in Kaduna State and killed two people.

More than 30 people were killed in road crashes across the country. This was just as 58 travelers also sustained injuries. Prominent among the accidents were the cases in Kano were 12 were killed and 30 injured. Also deaths were recorded in road crashes in Ondo 3, Anambra 1, Niger 3, and separate reported cases in Lagos which led to 5 deaths.

Also gunmen killed 57 people and abducted 21 others across some states of the federation. The resurgence of banditry in Katsina and Kaduna states had led to six deaths and 34 abductions.

Katsina State has witnessed spate of kidnappings in communities in Jibiya and Dutsin-Ma local governments, forcing residents to flee their homes for safety.