A landmine exploded beneath a Nigerian military vehicle, killing seven troops in a northeastern region where Islamic State-affiliated jihadists operate, an anti-jihadist militia said Friday.
According to two militia sources, the soldiers were driving to Kukawa early Thursday when their vehicle collided with an improvised explosive device.
“All seven soldiers in the van died in the explosion at Bawarti village,” claimed Babakura Kolo, chief of the anti-jihadist militia. Other militia officials, including Ibrahim Liman, verified the occurrence.
Both sources implicated Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), the major terrorist force in the Lake Chad region.
For more than ten years, Nigerian military have been fighting a regional insurgency. Approximately 40,000 people have been killed, and two million have been displaced from their homes in northeast Nigeria.
The intensity of the fighting has decreased in recent months, but ISWAP and its competitor Boko Haram continue to launch intermittent ambushes on convoys.