Security forces reported on Tuesday that jihadist fighters affiliated with the Islamic State group attacked a military convoy in the Lake Chad region, resulting in the deaths of several Nigerian soldiers.
According to sources, militants from the Islamic State West Africa Province struck the convoy on Friday outside the northeastern village of Metele, triggering a battle in which one jihadist was able to detonate a suicide vehicle among the troops. One of the sources told AFP, “We lost several men in the fierce battle with ISWAP terrorists from a vehicle-borne suicide attack.”
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He stated, “I can’t give a definite toll, but the loss is substantial.”
ISWAP on Sunday asserted liability regarding the trap, which it said killed or injured around 20 Nigerian warriors, as indicated by the SITE Knowledge bunch that screens jihadist exercises around the world.
The tactical caravan was going to the town of Arege, close to the boundaries with Niger and Chad, to convey food supplies to troops battling the jihadists nearby, said the sources, who asked not to be named since they were not approved to talk on the occurrence.
Another security source stated that the convoy “fell into an ambush” by ISWAP jihadists around 1400 GMT on Friday while it was near the fishing town of Baga.
According to the source, “the soldiers… were getting the upper hand when a suicide bomber set off his explosives-primed vehicles among the soldiers, killing many of them.”
ISWAP said the blast likewise obliterated “two heavily clad vehicles” and incapacitated four different vehicles”, as per SITE.
Additionally, the group claimed to have seized ammunition and weapons during the attack.
Since their 2016 split from the Boko Haram Islamist group, the ISWAP jihadists have risen to the top of the insurgency, primarily targeting troops and kidnappings.
In November 2018, ISWAP militants carried out a raid on a base in Metele near the border with Niger. The attack resulted in the deaths of at least 44 soldiers; however, the number of soldiers who were able to escape the attack was more than 100.
In northeast Nigeria, the jihadist violence of the past 14 years has displaced more than two million people and killed approximately 40,000 people.
A regional coalition is now engaged in combat against the militants because the conflict has also spread to neighboring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.
The violence is just one of the security issues that President Bola Tinubu, who was just sworn in, has to deal with. He has promised to make the fight against insecurity one of his top priorities.
