Attack on Nigerian wedding convoy leaves 30 dead

Maiduguri (Nigeria) (AFP) - Gunmen have attacked a wedding convoy in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno, killing more than 30 people including the groom in a suspected ambush, witnesses and survivors said Sunday.

The attack took place Saturday on the notorious Bama-Banki road when the wedding revellers, including friends and relatives of the groom, were returning to the state capital Maiduguri after the ceremony in Michika, in nearby Adamawa State, they said.

"It was a gory scene," said Kyari Buba, a driver, adding that he had seen more than 30 dead bodies on the side of the road following the attack.

"I was in the middle of the convoy when the gunmen attacked and I was able to stop the vehicle in time to open the door and run into the bush along with the people I was with," he said.

"When we returned long after the gunmen were gone we met a gory scene with more than 30 people shot dead or slaughtered," he told AFP.

"All the victims were brutally murdered by the attackers," he said, describing his shock at the sight of the bodies.

A survivor and friend of the groom, Japhet Haruna, 36, recounted his escape from the assailants.

"I wonder how I and few other people survived the onslaught because it was well coordinated. I was in the fifth vehicle in the convoy and when I realised that the attackers were out to kill, I ran into the bush," he said.

"I believe it is God that saved me and (a) few others from their bullets. They targeted everybody in the convoy -- Muslims, Christians and children," said Haruna, adding that the escape "was miraculous".

Haruna said there were about 50 people in the convoy and that he suspected Boko Haram for the attack.

The fate of the bride and her family members was still unknown.

An army spokesman in the region said in a statement late Sunday: "The report received from our troops indicated that some terrorists attacked a bus at Bulakuri village and killed five persons."

The bodies were taken to Bama, Captain Muhammad Dole added in the statement.

Violent attacks are not uncommon in northeastern Nigeria, where the army launched an offensive in May to end a deadly insurgency by Boko Haram Islamists.

Boko Haram has said it is fighting to create an Islamic state but the group is believed to be made up of different factions with varying aims.

A string of attacks in recent months has cast doubt on the success of the military's campaign. Some of the violence has targeted vigilante groups which have formed to help the military.

Boko Haram chief claims earlier attack

Boko Haram is known to have staged past attacks along the Bama-Banki road, a key artery in the region.

Saturday's ambush came just over a week after suspected Boko Haram fighters launched a coordinated assault on security forces in nearby Damaturu, state capital of Yobe.

Thirty-five bodies in military uniform were brought to a morgue following the October 24 attack, a hospital source told AFP.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in a new video released on Sunday and obtained by AFP that he led that attack.

"Look at what happened in Damaturu," the head of the Islamist group said in the video obtained by AFP through the same intermediary as previous clips. "Since we killed them with our hands -- in fact I was the commander of the operation -- so, you cannot say I'm making conjecture."

It was the first raid in a major urban centre in several weeks by the group in their four-year Islamist uprising.

Boko Haram has repeatedly worn military uniforms as a disguise during attacks and it was not yet clear whether the corpses were those of insurgents or troops.

Figures released earlier this year said the Boko Haram conflict had cost more than 3,600 lives, including killings by the security forces. The current toll is certainly much higher.

Boko Haram has attacked Christians, Muslims, students, politicians and a range of other groups seen as opposed to the creation of a state governed by strict Islamic law.

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and top oil producer, where the northern half is mostly Muslim and the more prosperous south is predominately Christian.

Nigeria is officially a secular state.