Suspected Islamists Kill at Least 11 in Attack on Convoy in Northeast Nigeria

Reuters
By Reuters
September 26, 2020Africa
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Suspected Islamists Kill at Least 11 in Attack on Convoy in Northeast Nigeria
Nigerian soldiers are seen during the funeral, on Sept. 26, 2020 of their fellow servicemen killed in the attack on vehicles carrying Borno governor Babagana Umara Zulum near the town of Baga on the shores of Lake Chad. (Audu Marte/AFP via Getty Images)

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria—Suspected radical Islamist terrorists killed at least 11 people in northeastern Nigeria in an attack on a security convoy that was taking people displaced by an insurgency back to their homes, police and security sources said on Saturday.

The ISIS terrorist group, to whom a breakaway faction of Nigerian militant group Boko Haram pledged allegiance in 2016, said on its Amaq news agency that 30 police officers and soldiers were killed in the attack on Friday on a road leading to the strategic fishing town of Baga in Borno state.

In a statement on Saturday, Borno state police said eight police officers and three members of a government-approved militia were killed, and 13 people were wounded in the attack around noon (1100 GMT) on Friday.

Two Nigerian military spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Radical Islamist terrorists have forced more than 2 million people to flee their homes since 2009 when Boko Haram began an insurgency aimed at creating a state adhering to a strict interpretation of sharia law. Some 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

The convoy was taking people back to Baga at the start of an initiative by authorities in Borno to relocate displaced persons to their homes. Borno is the insurgency’s birthplace and the state worst hit by the conflict.

ISIS West Africa Province (ISWAP) has become a dominant force in the region in recent years, targeting attacks on security forces. Boko Haram has carried out suicide bomb attacks and shooting raids on local residents.

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