ISIS claims 10 Nigeria soldiers killed in Gajiram attack
Islamic State claimed fighters from its West Africa Province affiliate killed 10 Nigerian soldiers and injured others in an attack on a military base in Gajiram in the Lake Chad area of Borno state, in the third attack in the area in the last week.
In a statement released on Thursday, ISIS claimed ISWAP fighters captured six four-wheel drive vehicles, weapons and ammunition, and burned an armored vehicle in the attack on a Nigerian Army base in Gajiram on Wednesday, September 4.
The Nigerian military has not yet commented on the alleged incident, but Sahara Reporters late on Wednesday reported a local vigilante source as saying that insurgents had entered Gajiram, the headquarters of Nganzai local council area, at around 5 p.m. local time (GMT).
The militants killed two civilians, burned part of the Divisional Police Headquarters and a telecommunications mast, and captured three military and one police vehicle, according to the report.
Gajiram is around 70 km (44 miles) north of Borno state capital Maiduguri.
ISWAP began to intensify attacks on Nigerian military targets in July 2018, and the Lake Chad area, where it is the dominant insurgent group, has seen particularly fierce fighting.
On August 30, at least three Nigerian soldiers were killed in an ISWAP ambush between Gajiram and Monguno. Two military sources told AFP that eight troops had been killed, but the Nigerian Army later said that only three were killed and eight others injured.
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Insurgents attacked the town again four days later, according to reports. Four people were killed and 21 women were abducted in an attack attributed to “Boko Haram,” Daily Trust reported, adding that nine of the women had later escaped.
ISWAP hit Gajiram hard on June 17, with ISIS claiming 12 Nigerian solders were killed and others injured when a Nigerian Army base in Gajiram was attacked. A statement said armored vehicles and four-wheel-drive vehicles were destroyed and the base was burned. Security sources and residents told AFP that 15 soldiers were killed.
The jihadist group known as Boko Haram began its bloody insurgency in northeastern Nigeria in 2009, but it has since spread into neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military response.
Boko Haram split into two factions in mid-2016. One, led by long-time leader Abubakar Shekau, is notorious for suicide bombings and indiscriminate killings of civilians. Shekau pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in March 2015, but ISIS central only gives formal backing to the other faction, which it calls Islamic State West Africa Province.
The U.S. assesses that Boko Haram and ISWAP have been responsible for more than 35,000 deaths since 2011. More than two million people have been displaced, sparking a dire humanitarian crisis in the region.
The regional Multinational Joint Task Force, which comprises personnel from Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria, launched Operation Yancin Tafki on February 21 to battle the insurgents. It has said the cross-border operation is aimed at “making islands and other settlements in Lake Chad untenable for Boko Haram Terrorists.” MNJTF troops have engaged militants in Nigeria, Niger and Chad.
Source: Defence Post
