Gamboru (or Gamburu) is a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

in Borno State, northeast

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, near the

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

border. It is the administrative centre of Ngala local government area. A 2013 IRIN report indicated that pharmacies in Gamboru Ngala were subject to attack by Islamist insurgents Boko Haram, and that the prices of medicines had "gone up by at least a third" as a result. The Boko Haram attack on Gamboru on May 5–6, 2014, and its twin town of Ngala killed at least 300 people. Some residents reported that they planned to move to

in the wake of the attacks, and a

Nigerian Army The Nigerian Army (NA) is the land force of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is governed by the Nigerian Army Council (NAC). The Chief of Army Staff is the highest ranking military officer of the Nigerian Army. History Formation The Nigerian ...

source indicated that corruption was hampering efforts to defend local residents. On May 9, 2014, it was reported that the bridge linking Gamboru to the rest of Nigeria, and also linking "the

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...

checkpoints of both Cameroon and Nigeria," had been destroyed. On May 11 it was reported that Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima had visited the town to view the destruction and offer condolences, and "promised to rebuild the Gamboru Ngala central market." Local government chairman Bakura Mustapha indicated that over 200 vehicles, and "hundreds of shops and houses" had been burned. On 2 February 2015, the

said it had recaptured Gamboru from Boko Haram, along with the nearby towns of Mafa, Mallam Fatori,

Abadam Abadam is a remote Local Government Area of Borno State, Nigeria, on the western coast of Lake Chad. It borders Chad and Niger, and it's very close to Cameroon, in 2016 its population is projected to be 140,000 inhabitants, It has its headquart ...

, and Marte, following joint military operations by Nigerian and Cameroonian forces, civilian forces, and three days of Chadian airstrikes. On 6 January 2020, a bomb at the marketplace on the bridge to Fotokol killed at least 30 people.

References

Populated places in Borno State {{BornoNG-geo-stub