Monday, October 19, 2026 -A Nigerian Army patrol vehicle hit a landmine planted by Islamic State group-aligned jihadists in Borno State, near the border with Cameroon, killing eight soldiers, defence sources told AFP on Sunday.
The attack happened in the northeastern state of Borno on
Saturday, October 17, 2026, the same day the Nigerian Army Chief, Lieutenant
General Waidi Shaibu, was visiting the state capital, Maiduguri, over an attack
on a base days earlier that killed 15 soldiers and five anti-jihadist militia
members.
In the latest attack, troops were inspecting anti-jihadist
militia members who were clearing thickets along the highway outside the town
of Gamboru when their vehicle rolled over the mine and exploded, killing all
eight on board, the sources said.
The sources blamed the attack on Islamic State West Africa
Province (ISWAP), which is active in the area.
Jihadists use thickets along the highway as cover to ambush
troops and motorists.
“All eight soldiers in the vehicle were killed in the
explosion,” which happened in Kinuba village, 25 kilometres (15.5 miles) from
Gamboru, a military officer in the region said.
Ibrahim Liman, an anti-jihadist militia member assisting the
military against jihadists, gave the same toll.
“The explosive was planted on the dusty road and remotely
detonated by a detonating cord,” Liman said.
A militia member supervising the thicket clearing was
injured by shrapnel, said Liman.
ISWAP and rival jihadist group Boko Haram have increasingly
resorted to planting mines on highways against military and civilian targets.
The long jihadist conflict has killed tens of thousands of
people and displaced around two million from their homes in Nigeria’s
northeast.
The violence has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and
Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the militants.
(AFP).
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