Nigeria, Feb. 11 -- The attack, which occurred around 7pm on Monday, February 9, was reported along the stretch linking Ado to Okpokwu LGA.

An eyewitness, Comrade Jude Onwe, a youth leader in Utonkon, said the bus was carrying 16 Igede-speaking passengers who had departed Iheijwo Market in Oju LGA en route to various locations in the West when the assailants struck shortly after the vehicle passed the Utonkon-Ojapo/Okpoga axis.

According to him, the gunmen forced the vehicle to a halt and marched the passengers into the bush.

"One of the passengers was shot dead when the driver initially refused to stop," Onwe said, adding that the attackers seized the victims' phones to prevent them from contacting relatives.

The abandoned vehicle w...