Following Thursday’s attack by Boko Haram, the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF, has suspended its humanitarian assistance to Borno state pending a security review.

Three officials of international nongovernmental organisations were among five persons wounded in the attack on the Maiduguri-Bama road and according to the UN children’s agency, an employee and a contractor working for it were injured in the attack.

In a statement, UNICEF says the assistance it was delivering to Bama was “desperately needed.”

“This was not only an attack on humanitarian workers. It is an attack on people who most need the assistance and aid that these workers were bringing,” the statement continued.

Doctors Without Borders warned this week that more than 500,000 people in Borno state urgently need emergency assistance, adding that 15,000 people in the town of Banki have been isolated by Boko Haram violence and depend entirely on humanitarian aid.

A chronic shortage of relief materials have resulted in a catastrophic health situation, particularly in Bama, with very high levels of malnutrition among women and children.