Four persons were killed and food trucks hijacked when Boko Haram guerrillas attacked a United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) aid convoy in Ngala, Borno State at the weekend.
The attack was the latest in the region as the conflict with Boko Haram nears its ninth year.
“WFP can confirm that a convoy escorted by the Nigerian military including WFP-hired trucks was the subject of an attack by armed groups 35 km southwest of Ngala in Borno State on Saturday,” the spokeswoman Jane Howard said in an emailed statement on Sunday.
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“Four people, including the driver of a WFP-hired truck and a driver’s assistant, were killed in the incident,” the statement said, adding that “WFP is working with the authorities to determine the whereabouts of the trucks.”
The spokeswoman declined to comment on whether the driver and assistant were WFP staff, or give details about the other two people killed.
The Nigerian military has not commented on this latest attack.
Last year, the United Nations suspended aid deliveries in Nigeria’s northeastern state of Borno, the epicentre of the conflict, after a humanitarian convoy was attacked, leaving two aid workers injured.
Last week, in a sign that some work still needs to be done to destroy Boko Haram, the Nigerian governors approved the release of $1 billion (751 million pounds) from the country’s excess oil account to the federal government to help fight the Boko Haram insurgency.
