Suspected ISWAP fighters target an army base in the remote town of Malam Faturi in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state.
At least 20 Nigerian soldiers have reportedly been killed in an attack by suspected ISIS-affiliated fighters in the West Africa Province (ISWAP).
Attackers targeted a military base in the remote town of Malam Faturi in northeastern Borno state on Friday, a surviving soldier said, in an attack that lasted more than three hours.
Boko Haram and ISWAP fighters operate primarily in Borno and have attacked security forces and civilians. Killing and displacing thousands of people.
Reuters news agency cited security sources and residents as saying on Sunday that a commanding officer was among those killed when ISWAP members arrived on gun trucks and attacked Malam Faturi, the border gateway with Niger. I attacked the 149th Battalion of the Nigerian Army.
“They rained bullets everywhere,” one of the surviving soldiers told Reuters by phone, adding that the soldiers were taken by surprise.
“We tried hard to repel the attacks and after more than three hours of gunfight, they overpowered us, and killed our commanding officer, a lieutenant colonel,” said the soldier, who declined to be named. said as he was not authorized to speak. The media
He said that 20 soldiers were killed while many were injured.
Some of the attackers were spotted in Malam Faturi late on Saturday night, residents who left the town said.
Militants also set fire to buildings, forcing some residents to flee the town, said Malakaka Bakr, a member of a local militia recruited to support the army.
“They preached to some of the residents,” Booker said.
ISWAP broke away from mainstream Boko Haram in 2016 to become the dominant armed faction in northeastern Nigeria.
Although weakened by years of military offensives and infighting, Boko Haram and ISWAP have stepped up attacks in Borno since the start of the year, killing dozens of farmers and fishermen in a series of raids. is
The 15-year-old conflict has left nearly 40,000 people dead and nearly two million displaced in the northeast.
The violence spread to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, leading to the creation of a regional force to fight the armed groups.
