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Eight members of an anti-jihadist militia assisting the Nigerian military were killed on Tuesday when their vehicle hit a landmine in northeastern Borno state, sources from the group told AFP.
Members of the militia were returning to the regional capital Maiduguri from the town of Marte in the Lake Chad area, where they had helped to repel a jihadist attack on a military base, the two sources said.
“Their vehicle hit the landmine while driving between the towns of Marte and Dikwa around 2:00 pm (1300 GMT), killing all eight of them onboard,” Babakura Kolo, an anti-jihadist militia leader in the region, told AFP.
In mid-May, fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) attacked a military base in Marte, a town in Borno state, killing four soldiers and seizing weapons before torching the facility.
The victims of Tuesday’s attack were among a contingent of anti-jihadist militia who remained in Marte to help troops guard the town, said Ibrahim Liman, another militia leader.
Liman gave the same toll, saying the bodies of the victims were brought to Maiduguri, 90 kilometres away, and “will be buried tomorrow morning”.
The Nigerian military on Tuesday confirmed troops had thwarted a jihadist attempt to “infiltrate” the Marte base, resulting in the “decimation of several fleeing terrorists” with air support.
Two soldiers were killed in the incident, the military said in a statement.
ISWAP and rival Boko Haram have escalated attacks on communities in Borno and neighbouring Adamawa and Yobe states in recent months.
They have also have intensified attacks on military bases, overrunning more than a dozen in two months, according to an AFP tally.
The 16-year jihadist conflict has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million from their homes in the northeast, according to the United Nations.
The violence has also spilled into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the jihadist groups.
