ABUJA, May 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Insurgents killed at least 25 soldiers and a number of civilians in an ambush in northeast Nigeria, the second deadly attack on the army within a week.
Militants opened fire as the soldiers were on Saturday escorting a group of evacuees from a village in Borno state, where Boko Haram and other militants have been fighting for a decade.
“They ambushed and surrounded the vehicles of both the soldiers and the civilians and opened fire on them,” said sources from a vigilante group that fights alongside the military against the insurgencies.
“They exchanged fire for some minutes before the Boko Haram militants overpowered the soldiers.”
The soldiers were evacuating villages in the region on Saturday to carry out operations against Boko Haram, sources said, adding the civilian convoy had as many as 50 vehicles.
On Wednesday, Islamic State’s West Africa branch claimed responsibility for a raid in Nigeria in which it said 20 soldiers had been killed, and released a video purporting to show the execution of nine other Nigerian soldiers.
The war has killed more than 30,000 people and displaced millions more. — NNN-AGENCIES:
