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 ...

Borno State Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon, its northern border ...

, 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 Ngala is a local government area of Borno State, Nigeria, adjacent to the border with Cameroon. Its headquarters are in the town of Gamboru Ngala. It has an area of 1,465 km and a population of 237,071 at the 2006 census. The postal code ...

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

. A 2013 IRIN report indicated that pharmacies in Gamboru Ngala were subject to attack by Islamist

insurgent An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric warfare, asymmetric na ...

Boko Haram Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...

, 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

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, and ...

checkpoints Checkpoint may refer to: Places * Border checkpoint, a place on the land border between two states where travellers and/or goods are inspected * Security checkpoint, erected and enforced within contiguous areas under military or paramilitary cont ...

of both Cameroon and Nigeria," had been destroyed. On May 11 it was reported that Borno State Governor

Kashim Shettima Kashim Shettima Mustapha (born 2 September 1966) is a Nigerian banker and politician who has served as Senator for Borno Central since 2019. He previously served as the Governor of Borno State from 2011 to 2019. A member of the All Progressives ...

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 Marte may refer to: *Marte, Nigeria, a Local Government Area in Borno State *Marte (surname), including a list of people with the name * C.D. Marte, a Mexican football club *C.D. Atlético Marte, a Salvadoran football club * ST ''Marte'', a tug in ...

, 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 Fotokol is a town and commune in Logone-et-Chari Department, Far North Region, Cameroon. It is home to Fotokol High School. The town is about across a small river from the Nigerian village of Gamboru, where Fotokol residents often go for supplie ...

killed at least 30 people.

References

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