From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
OVER a dozen aid workers have been feared missing following nearly long hours of Boko Haram siege on Borno central town of Dikwa.
Boko Haram, in convoy of gun trucks, motorcycles and bicycles, attacked Dikwa, headquarters of Dikwa Local Government Area on Monday at about 6:30pm, residents said.
The attack was later repelled by military troops and fighter jet but the insurgents regrouped and return few hours later, residents claimed.
They said the insurgents were in town till dawn on Tuesday even after they set ablaze a UN hub, offices of humanitarian organisations, looted and damaged the hospital.
Residents and aid workers told Daily Sun that over a dozen of their colleagues have been missing hours after the insurgents were pushed back on Tuesday, fuelling speculation some of the aid workers may have been abducted by the terrorists.
UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, said the attack could acerbate the worsening insecurity and humanitarian crisis in the area.
“This violent attack will affect the support provided to nearly 100,000 people who are desperately in need of humanitarian assistance,” he said.
Kallon said civilians, aid workers and their facilities/assets should never be target of terror attack anywhere.
He said they should rather be respected and protected, calling on armed parties-military and Boko Haram, to “immediately stop the violence and respect international humanitarian law and human rights law.”
The Tuesday attack on Dikwa was the second in recent time coming after the February 20 strike by the terrorists which was repelled by military forces.
Dikwa, often vulnerable to Boko Haram attacks, was overrun and seized by the insurgents late 2014 but recaptured in March 2015 in a special operations by the military. Scores of civilians were displaced. There are 75,470 IDPs in Dikwa, according to a 2009 figure provided to Daily Sun by the Borno State Emergency Management Agency.
Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, distributed food items and money to the IDPs and residents of the town last Thursday as part of the government Resettlement programme.