At least 30 passengers on a bus in Nigeria’s Sokoto state have been burnt to death when gunmen reportedly torched it on Tuesday.
Sanusi Abubakar, the spokesman for the northwestern Borno state police, said the bus was carrying 24 passengers when it was set alight by armed men and that seven people had escaped with injuries and taken to hospital.
However, two residents who reached the scene and helped retrieve bodies told Reuters that the bus was overloaded and the bodies were burnt beyond recognition.
They counted body parts of at least 30 people, including women and children.
The residents said the villagers were ambushed on a road linking the Sabon Birni local government area and the village of Gidan Bawa in Borno state.
It was gathered that bandits move around on motor-bikes and are known to hide in forests, where they often keep kidnapped victims while awaiting ransom payment.
