Eight Soldiers Killed As ISWAP Landmine Hits Army Patrol Vehicle In Borno

EIGHT soldiers have been killed after an army patrol vehicle struck a landmine allegedly planted by Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) near the border with Cameroon, a defence source told this newspaper on Sunday.

News Point Nigeria reports that, according to the source, the attack occurred in Borno State on Saturday, the same day the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, visited the state capital, Maiduguri, following an attack on a military base days earlier that killed several soldiers and five members of a local vigilante group.

In the latest attack, troops were inspecting terrorist militia members who were clearing thickets along the highway outside the town of Gamboru when their vehicle ran over the mine and exploded, killing all eight soldiers on board, the sources said.

The sources blamed the attack on ISWAP, which is active in the area.

ISWAP fighters reportedly use thickets along the highway as cover to ambush troops and motorists.

“All eight soldiers in the vehicle were killed in the explosion,” a military officer in the region confirmed, adding that the incident occurred in Kinuba village, about 25 kilometres (15.5 miles) from Gamboru.

Ibrahim Liman, a vigilante member assisting the military in the fight against terrorists, gave the same death toll.

“The explosive was planted on the dusty road and remotely detonated by a detonating cord,” Liman said.

A militia member supervising the clearing of the thickets was injured by shrapnel, Liman added.

ISWAP and its rival group, Boko Haram, have increasingly resorted to planting landmines on highways to target military personnel and civilians.

The protracted Boko Haram conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced around two million others from their homes in northeastern Nigeria.

The violence has also spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting the formation of a regional military coalition to fight the militants.