The convoy was returning to Maiduguri late Thursday after making delivery of much-needed food supplies to a camp of 24,000 impoverished people displaced by Boko Haram raids in the town of Bama.
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Three civilians including a UNICEF employee and contractor for the International Organization for Migration were wounded in Thursday’s ambush, along with two of the soldiers escorting the humanitarian workers, according to the Nigerian army and the U.N. Children’s Fund.
It expressed regret concerning last week’s attack on the United Nations humanitarian convoy in the Northeastern region, saying the government is encouraged by the world body’s determination to continue rendering assistance to the displaced victims.
The group expanded its campaign beyond Nigeria, carrying out terrorist attacks on neighboring countries including Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
More than 500,000 people are living in “catastrophic conditions” in Borno state, Medecins Sans Frontieres said this week.
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Boko Haram is engaged in “almost unimaginable” violence and brutality that has forced massive numbers of people to flee their homes and led to unprecedented numbers of people in need, the United Nations humanitarian chief said Wednesday.
It was temporarily seized from Boko Haram control by Nigerian and Chadian troops in March past year but fell back into the Islamists’ hands after the soldiers withdrew a month later.
Gough said, “We are working at full strength in the Borno state capital Maiduguri”.
Since June, the attacks have even been promoted by media outlets of the so-called Islamic State, to which Boko Haram’s leaders have sworn allegiance. In the town of Bama, for example, MSF teams estimate that 15 per cent of children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
“UNICEF continues to urge partners to join the humanitarian response in Borno … to avoid affected populations, including children, being left without assistance”, Fontaine added.
This is not the first time the Nigerian army and government have claimed that the fight against Boko Haram was over.
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Since a push early a year ago led by the Nigerian army, supported by troops from neighbouring states, most of the territory has been seized back from the militants but the group still stages guerrilla attacks in the region.
