A fresh attack by the dreaded jihadist sect, Boko Haram, has resulted in the death of five soldiers.
The development was confirmed by military sources on Sunday, Daily Mail reports.
Furthermore, scores of civilians were kidnapped in a separate attack by Boko Haram. The death of the soldiers resulted from an attack on a military convoy. The convoy came under attack in Borno state on Saturday. Earlier on Friday, Boko Haram fighters attacked a transport convoy, abducting 35 people and killing one woman.
Meanwhile, the attack on the military convoy took place outside of Mafa, 44 kilometres (27 miles) north of the regional capital Maiduguri.
A security source told Daily Mail that the military convoy was ambushed.
“The terrorists fired an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) on the convoy which hit one of the vehicles with five soldiers in it. All the five were killed.”
Also, the Boko Haram insurgents allegedly seized two vehicles in the attack, a second source disclosed.
Furthermore, dozens of civilians were kidnapped late Friday by ISWAP militants at a fake checkpoint in Garin Kuturu village outside Jakana, 25 kilometres from Maiduguri.
A militia official revealed that the terrorists wore military camouflage.
“The ISWAP terrorists who were dressed in military uniform stopped the vehicles… Some of the passengers fled into the bush while 35 were taken hostage,” the official said.
Also, he revealed that a woman was shot dead and several others were injured when the militants opened fire on those fleeing into the bush.
Daily Mail states that Jakana, which lies along the 120-kilometre highway linking Maiduguri and Damaturu; the capital of neighbouring Yobe state, is an ISWAP stronghold. Abductions of civilians by the jihadists in the area have been on the rise; prompting increased military deployments which have failed to end the abductions.
The attacks follow the killing of at least three people by Boko Haram on Saturday when a teenage girl blew herself up in a crowd in the town of Konduga, about 40 kilometres from Maiduguri.
At the end of November, about 100 of its fighters slit the throats of at least 76 farmers working in a field not far from Maiduguri; the “most violent” attack against civilians this year, according to the UN.
Then on December 11, criminal gangs, known locally as bandits, abducted more than 300 children from a secondary school on behalf of Boko Haram in Katsina. The children were finally released on Friday after negotiations between the authorities and the criminal groups.
Boko Haram whose insurgency began in 2009, had already made headlines in recent weeks. The group has prosecuted an over a decade long insurgency against the Nigerian government. The imsurgency has resulted in the death of over 36,000 people and displaced around two million.
In 2006, a splinter group, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), emerged; further adding a more deadly dimension to the conflict. ISWAP claims allegiance to ISIS.
