Ebun Francis with agency report
Gunmen believed to be Boko Haram insurgents have attacked a United Nations monitoring team at the Nigeria-Cameroon border, killing five people.
Three Nigerians were among those killed, a UN statement said Wednesday.
“According to preliminary reports, at around 14:00 hours, yesterday (Tuesday), an unknown armed group attacked a UN Technical Monitoring Team, killing five individuals – a UN independent contractor, three Nigerians nationals and one Cameroonian national – and injuring several others,” the UN envoy for West Africa and the Sahel, Mohamed Chambas, said in a statement.
“The team was conducting a field mission in the vicinity of Hosere Jongbi, near Kontcha, Cameroon, about 700 kilometres north of the capital Yaoundé, as part of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission mandate,” he said.
The UN “strongly condemned” the attack and called on Nigeria and Cameroon to take swift action to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Taraba State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Silas Sanga, announced that one of those killed was the Assistant Surveyor-General of the state, Zakari Bakari.
He said the deceased included a Kenyan and another Nigerian from Jigawa.
Mr. Sanga said Mr. Bakari together alongside a UN official and some staff of National Boundary Commission were killed in Koncha village in Cameroun while they demarcating and delineating the Nigeria-Cameroon border in line with the judgement of the International Court of Justice.
