Suspected Islamists kill at least 11 in attack on convoy
MAIDUGURI: Suspected Islamist militants killed at least 11 people in northeastern Nigeria in an attack on a security convoy that was taking people displaced by an insurgency back to their homes, police and security sources said on Saturday.
Islamic State, to whom a breakaway faction of Nigerian militant group Boko Haram pledged allegiance in 2016, said on its Amaq news agency that 30 police officers and soldiers were killed in the attack on Friday on a road leading to Baga town in Borno state.
In a statement on Saturday, Borno police said eight police officers and three members of a governmentapproved militia were killed, and 13 people were wounded in the attack around noon on Friday.
Two soldiers, a police officer and a member of the government-approved militia — all speaking anonymously because they were not authorised to speak to journalists — told Reuters at least four soldiers were also killed.
Two military spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
President Muhammadu Buhari “urges security and intelligence agencies to intensify efforts to check sabotage, sanitise the roads, venues and locations well in advance of returning IDPs [internally displaced people]”, a statement issued by his spokesman said.
Islamist militants have forced more than 2 million people to flee their homes since 2009 when Boko Haram began an insurgency aimed at creating a state adhering to a strict interpretation of sharia law. Some 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict.