[AlAhram] At least 70 Nigerian soldiers were killed in an ambush on their convoy by jihadist fighters in the restive northeast, military and security sources said on Tuesday.Insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at a lorry carrying troops as it travelled near Gorgi village in Borno state on Monday, two military officers told AFP without giving their names.
"It was a huge loss, at least 70 soldiers have perished in the ambush," one of the officers said.
"The Death Eaters specifically targeted a truck loaded with soldiers with RPGs and incinerated the vehicle, killing all on board," a second officer said.
"So far 70 bodies have been recovered but the toll is certainly more than that as rescue operation is still underway."
Several soldiers were maimed and some others taken captive by the jihadists, the two officers said.
A front man for the Nigerian army told AFP that he was unable to comment on the reported attack.
The convoy had left regional capital Maiduguri on its way to launch an offensive on a camp belonging to jihadists affiliated to the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group in the area, a member of a government-backed militia fighting the murderous Moslems told AFP.
The Islamic State West Africa Province faction split from Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
murderous Moslems in 2016 and has focused on attacking troops, raiding bases and laying ambush on military convoys.
The group has been accused of increasing attacks on civilians and taking hostages at bogus checkpoints on main roads in the region.
The decade-long conflict has killed 36,000 people and displaced 1.8 million in the northeast of Nigeria.
Fighting has also spilt over the border into neighbouring countries, prompting the formation of a regional military coalition to fight the bully boys.
Related:
Borno: 2020-02-24 NAF neutralises ISWAP leaders in Borno
Borno: 2020-02-14 Nigeria's army burns villages in fight against Islamist forces - report
Borno: 2020-01-21 Several civilians killed by female suicide bomber in western Chad
Borno: 2020-02-24 NAF neutralises ISWAP leaders in Borno
Borno: 2020-02-14 Nigeria's army burns villages in fight against Islamist forces - report
Borno: 2020-01-21 Several civilians killed by female suicide bomber in western Chad
Related:
Islamic State West Africa Province: 2019-12-29 Islamic State claims responsibility for Burkina Faso attack
Islamic State West Africa Province: 2019-12-04 Boko Haram split in 2016, the larger portion formed Islamic State West Africa Province under Barnawi
Islamic State West Africa Province: 2019-05-13 Islamic State claims it killed 11 soldiers in northeastern Nigeria
Islamic State West Africa Province: 2019-12-29 Islamic State claims responsibility for Burkina Faso attack
Islamic State West Africa Province: 2019-12-04 Boko Haram split in 2016, the larger portion formed Islamic State West Africa Province under Barnawi
Islamic State West Africa Province: 2019-05-13 Islamic State claims it killed 11 soldiers in northeastern Nigeria