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BFF-04
NIGERIA-CONFLICT
Boko Haram landmines kill 11 Nigerian security personnel
KANO, Nigeria, Dec 30, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Landmines planted by Boko Haram
jihadists have killed 11 security personnel, including four soldiers in
northeast Nigeria, security sources said Tuesday.
Seven hunters recruited to help the military fight the Islamist insurgents
were killed on Tuesday when their vehicle hit a landmine in the village of
Kayamla, outside Borno State’s capital Maiduguri.
“Seven hunters died in the explosion and nine others are badly injured,”
Babakura Kolo, the head of a local anti-jihadist militia, told AFP.
“Their vehicle hit a landmine as they were pursuing Boko Haram
insurgents,” he added.
Another local militiaman confirmed the incident.
Four Nigerian soldiers were killed on Monday when their vehicle hit a
landmine planted by Boko Haram fighters in Logomani village near the border
with Cameroon, two security sources told AFP.
There has been a sharp increase in attacks in northeast Nigeria since the
start of the month.
Last week 40 loggers were kidnapped and three killed near the Cameroonian
border.
On Christmas Eve, Boko Haram killed 11 people, burnt a church and seized a
priest in a village near Chibok, where it notoriously kidnapped more than 200
schoolgirls six years ago.
Boko Haram and a splinter group known as ISWAP have killed 36,000 people
in the northeast and forced roughly two million to flee since 2009, according
to the United Nations.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0837 hrs