Takfiri Terrorists Kill 30 Security Personnel in Nigeria
KANO, Nigeria (Dispatches) – Takfiri terrorists linked to the Daesh group on Friday killed 30 security personnel in an ambush on the convoy of the regional governor in restive northeast Nigeria, three security said.
Sources told AFP that several policemen, soldiers and members of a government-backed militia were killed in the attack on vehicles carrying Borno governor Babagana Umara Zulum near the town of Baga on the shores of Lake Chad.
The terrorists opened fire with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades as the convoy was passing through a village close to the headquarters of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), a military coalition of troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
Zulum was on an assessment tour of Baga in preparation for the return of thousands of residents displaced from the town by the takfiris in 2014, the sources said.
The governor flew on a helicopter into the garrison town of Monguno, 60 kilometers (40 miles) away, and headed to Baga in a convoy under tight security, one of the sources said.
The Daesh-affiliated ISWAP group maintains most of its camps on islands in Lake Chad and the region is known as a bastion for the takfiris.
The militant group has recently intensified attacks on military and civilian targets in the region.
The decade-long insurgency in northeast Nigeria has killed 36,000 people and forced over 2 million from their homes.
Chadian soldiers killed 20 Boko Haram terrorists and freed 12 civilians, including nine children, kidnapped in the Lake Chad area where several countries’ borders meet, the government said Friday.
The takfiri group, which originated in Nigeria in 2009, has established bases on islets dotting Lake Chad, a vast swampy expanse on the border between Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
It has stepped up attacks in the area in recent months.
On September 17, Boko Haram fighters raided a village in the restive zone and kidnapped the civilians, Communications Minister and government spokesman Cherif Mahamat Zene told AFP.
The army pursued the raiders and attacked them on Thursday in Barkalam, near the Nigerian border, he said, "killing 15 terrorists” and "freeing 12 civilians.”
A little later, there was another encounter at Bilabrim in which five Boko Haram fighters were killed and two Chadian soldiers were wounded.
The Chadian army launched an offensive against Boko Haram in April after the deaths of some 100 soldiers in an attack by the group on one of its bases.
Sources told AFP that several policemen, soldiers and members of a government-backed militia were killed in the attack on vehicles carrying Borno governor Babagana Umara Zulum near the town of Baga on the shores of Lake Chad.
The terrorists opened fire with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades as the convoy was passing through a village close to the headquarters of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), a military coalition of troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
Zulum was on an assessment tour of Baga in preparation for the return of thousands of residents displaced from the town by the takfiris in 2014, the sources said.
The governor flew on a helicopter into the garrison town of Monguno, 60 kilometers (40 miles) away, and headed to Baga in a convoy under tight security, one of the sources said.
The Daesh-affiliated ISWAP group maintains most of its camps on islands in Lake Chad and the region is known as a bastion for the takfiris.
The militant group has recently intensified attacks on military and civilian targets in the region.
The decade-long insurgency in northeast Nigeria has killed 36,000 people and forced over 2 million from their homes.
Chadian soldiers killed 20 Boko Haram terrorists and freed 12 civilians, including nine children, kidnapped in the Lake Chad area where several countries’ borders meet, the government said Friday.
The takfiri group, which originated in Nigeria in 2009, has established bases on islets dotting Lake Chad, a vast swampy expanse on the border between Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
It has stepped up attacks in the area in recent months.
On September 17, Boko Haram fighters raided a village in the restive zone and kidnapped the civilians, Communications Minister and government spokesman Cherif Mahamat Zene told AFP.
The army pursued the raiders and attacked them on Thursday in Barkalam, near the Nigerian border, he said, "killing 15 terrorists” and "freeing 12 civilians.”
A little later, there was another encounter at Bilabrim in which five Boko Haram fighters were killed and two Chadian soldiers were wounded.
The Chadian army launched an offensive against Boko Haram in April after the deaths of some 100 soldiers in an attack by the group on one of its bases.