Eight members of a civilian anti-jihadist militia working alongside the Nigerian military were killed on Tuesday when their vehicle struck a landmine in Borno State, northeast Nigeria, according to local militia sources.
The victims were returning to Maiduguri, the state capital, from the town of Marte in the Lake Chad region, where they had helped Nigerian troops fend off a jihadist attack on a military base.
“Their vehicle hit the landmine between Marte and Dikwa around 2:00 pm, killing all eight onboard,” said Babakura Kolo, a militia leader in the region.
The attack comes shortly after fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) launched a deadly raid on the Marte military base in mid-May, killing four soldiers, stealing weapons, and setting the facility ablaze.
According to another militia commander, Ibrahim Liman, the men killed in Tuesday’s explosion had stayed behind in Marte to assist the military in securing the town following the ISWAP assault. Their bodies were transported to Maiduguri and are expected to be buried on Wednesday.
In a statement released Tuesday, the Nigerian military confirmed it had repelled another attempted infiltration by jihadist fighters at the Marte base, with air support reportedly “decimating several fleeing terrorists.” Two soldiers were killed in the confrontation, the statement said.
The jihadist conflict in northeast Nigeria, now in its 16th year, has claimed more than 40,000 lives and displaced around two million people, according to the United Nations.
ISWAP and Boko Haram have intensified attacks in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states in recent months, frequently targeting both military installations and civilian communities. Over a dozen military bases have reportedly been overrun in the past two months alone, based on an AFP tally.
The violence has also spilled over into neighboring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, prompting coordinated military responses by regional forces.
