Terrorist group ISWAP claimed responsibility for killing 19 members of Nigerian security forces

Jihadists ambush military convoy in Nigeria and kill 15 soldiers and four paramilitaries in Borno state (Northeast), security sources reported on Saturday.

The convoy was attacked by militants of the Islamic State of West Africa (ISWAP) near Gudumbali in the Lake Chad region last Thursday, the sources reported.

“We lost 15 soldiers and four members (of the civilian IOF militia) in a terrorist ambush in the forest near Gudumbaili”, a military official, who requested anonymity, told the news agency AFP.

According to the source, 13 government fighters, including ten soldiers, were injured in the attack.

The convoy, consisting of ten vehicles, was heading towards Gudumbali from the town of Kukawa to carry out a military operation against insurgents during an attack, explained another member of the army, who confirmed the death toll and injuries.

“The victims were taken to Maiduguri this afternoon”, he explained, referring to the regional capital.

The leader of the militia Umar Ari I affirm that a leader of the same had been injured.

“Among the dead are four of our comrades, including Yusuf Baba-Idris, head of the civilian JTF in Kukawa.”, reported.

This Saturday, ISWAP group claimed responsibility in the ambush with a statement.

It is worst attack on government troops in recent months. The Islamist group assured that this “led to the massacre of 33 elements, that 20 other people were injured and one of them imprisoned, while the survivors fled ”.

According to the jihadists, their fighters also destroyed four military vehicles, captured seven others and seized “A series of weapons and ammunition”.

The ISWAP group split from the jihadist organization Boko Haram in 2016 and has become a serious threat to Nigeria.

March 1, Jihadist fighters set fire to UN humanitarian compound in Dikwa town after dislodging troops and killing six civilians.

Jihadist violence in Nigeria has spread to neighboring countries Chad, Cameroon and Niger, at the origin of the emergence of a regional military coalition to fight the insurgents.

Insurgency on the rise

The President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has been subjected to a growing pressure to address security challenges in the country, which include the jihadist uprising, clashes between herders and farmers, as well as banditry and mass kidnappings in the Northwest.

Nigerian security forces sought this Saturday to rescue dozens of students kidnapped in northwest Kaduna state in the latest attack on a school.

Gunmen stormed the Federal College of Forest Mechanization in Command on the outskirts of the state capital (Kaduna) on Thursday evening and took over 30 students while the army managed to save 180.

Kidnapper gangs are largely driven to obtain ransom payment and not have known ideological tendencies. The victims are usually released shortly after negotiations.

(With information from AFP)

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