Suspected insurgents yesterday blocked one of the main routes into Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, thereby forcing motorists to make a detour which took longer time, reports The Guardian.

“Travellers to the southern part of the state had to go through Maiduguri and Damaturu road into Gombe State to reconnect the state before getting to their respective destinations,” says the paper in a report published this morning.

The Guardian says it “also gathered that many motorists and passengers on the 187- kilometre Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu road were forced to make U-turn as they were attacked at different spots.”

Boko Haram, which has its headquarters in Borno State, North-East Nigeria, was founded in 2006 and has waged an unrelenting campaign of violence since 2009, claiming thousands of innocent lives and making life in large swathes of the North-East a big nightmare.

•Photo shows Boko Haram fighters.