When Fatima Babagana, a student of the University of Maiduguri, joined her uncle for a ride from Maiduguri, she probably did not know that she would not make it to Postiskum, her destination in Yobe.

Babagana was among the 30 people killed when Boko Haram attacked stranded travellers in Auno last week.

In an interview with CNN, Babagana’s uncle, who reportedly did not want his name to be mentioned, said the insurgents launched the attack when most of them were asleep.

He said his niece, who wanted to be a journalist, was shot in the head because the attackers could see the light from her phone which she was fiddling when they struck.

He said they ended up spending the night at Auno because on their way to Potiskum, soldiers at a roadblock in Benisheikh, a town 45 miles west from Maiduguri, ordered them to go back for their safety.