KANO, Nigeria, Jan 12, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Jihadists linked with the Islamic
State militant group killed five members of a militia in an offensive in
Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, militia sources told AFP.
Fighters from Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) — travelling in
pickup trucks fitted with machine guns — attacked Gajiram town, 80
kilometres (50 miles) from the state capital Maiduguri, on Friday.
They targeted hunters and vigilantes who were guarding the town against
attacks, resident Mele Butari said.
“We lost five men in the attack,” militia leader Babakura Kolo said on
Saturday.
The five men were buried in Maiduguri on Saturday, another militia member
Ibrahim Liman said.
Nganzai district, where Gajiram is located, has been repeatedly attacked
by jihadists in recent months, with troops and residents targeted.
In the past two months, the number of ambushes against troops and civilian
abductions at fake highway checkpoints by ISWAP — which split from the Boko
Haram militant group in 2016 — has increased.
The spike in attacks followed the creation of “super camps” by the
Nigerian military in the northeast to stave off repeated jihadist raids.
Authorities in the state recruited hundreds of hunters and vigilantes to
fill the void left by the withdrawal of troops from small camps, but they
have been exposed to incessant jihadist attacks.
The decade-long conflict has killed 36,000 people and displaced around two
million from their homes in northeast Nigeria.
The violence has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon,
prompting a regional military coalition to fight the insurgents.