A roadside bomb on Monday evening killed three soldiers and injured three others while on patrol in Gwani forest in Jigawa, close to the border with Bauchi State.

A source in Gwaram local government said the incident happened around 7pm at Zumburum village where the Gwani forest is located. The Joint Task Force soldiers, who arrived the Zumburm village last Thursday, were on patrol in a ten-Hilux convoy when one of the vehicles climbed the IED that exploded and killed the soldiers.

The ‘Operation Salama’ convoy was entering the forest, suspected to be a hide-out of gunmen, whereby only a few weeks ago some gunmen attacked a police station and killed seven mobile policemen in the same Gwaram local government headquarters.

The road side bomb that hit the JTF convoy was suspected to be planted by the criminals, who had since turned the forest as their hideout.

When contacted, the state’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPPRO) of the command DSP Abdul Jinjiri, confirmed the bomb attack.

In another development, gunmen in military uniform yesterday seized an 18-seater mass transit Bus belong to Toro Local Government Area in a village near Soro, a border town between Ganjuwa and Darazo Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

Police Public Relations Officer DSP Haruna Mohammed confirmed the incident. He said: “One Abdullahi Ibrahim ‘m’, driver of Nissan bus with registration number LG 50 TRR, property of Toro LGA, reported at Darazo Police Station that eight armed men in military uniforms riding on Bajaj/Boxer motor bikes intercepted him at Dodwu village, Ganjuwa LGA, along Bauchi - Maiduguri Road, attacked and snatched the government bus from him after discharging all the passengers and drove to the bush.”

The PPRO said police has commenced investigation over the incident and making effort to trail the fleeing gun men.

A security source said the armed men robbed the occupants of the vehicle of their belongings before they took away the Bus.

The incident came barely one month after gunmen numbering about 20 seized two United Nations vehicles and Bauchi State Television (BATV) bus in Soro.

•Pieced together from reports in Peoples Daily and Daily Trust.