Nigeria jihadists kill five soldiers and kidnap dozens of civilians
- Boko Haram and a splinter group have killed 36,000 people and displaced around two million as part of a decade-long conflict
- Splinter group ISWAP focuses on military targets, raiding bases, ambushing troops and planting mines
Five Nigerian soldiers were killed by Islamic State-aligned jihadists and dozens of civilians were kidnapped in a separate attack, military sources said on Sunday, in the latest violence to grip the north of the country.
A military convoy was hit in northeast Borno state on Saturday, and militants also attacked a transport convoy in the same region a day before, abducting 35 people and killing one woman.
Nigeria’s Boko Haram and a splinter group, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), have killed 36,000 people and displaced around two million as part of a decade-long conflict.
Deadly attacks and kidnappings by jihadists in the northeast and criminal gangs in the northwest have intensified in recent weeks.
Saturday’s attack on the military convoy took place outside Mafa, 44 kilometres (27 miles) north of the regional capital Maiduguri.
“The terrorists fired an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) on the convoy which hit one of the vehicles with five soldiers in it,” one security source said.
