KANO – Attackers from an Islamic State-affiliated jihadist group killed five Nigerian soldiers and wounded 10 more in a raid on a military base near the Niger border, two officers said yesterday. Fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) stormed the base in Kareto village, Borno state in a dawn attack Saturday and triggered a gun battle, the military officers told AFP. 

Northern Nigeria has been plagued by a bloody Islamist insurgency since 2009, and security cooperation on the border has broken down since the July 2023 military coup in Niger. “We lost five soldiers in the battle, with 10 others injured,” one senior military officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media. 

“Four of our men are still missing and search and rescue is underway to locate them,” he added. 

The gunmen captured four trucks fitted with anti-aircraft guns and burnt five other vehicles, including a mine-resistant military truck, according to a second officer who gave the same toll. 

In a statement issued yesterday, ISWAP claimed to have “killed and wounded” more than 20 troops in a suicide car bomb attack during the raid, according to SITE Intelligence, which monitors online jihadist activity. The group claimed to have torched the base and burnt 14 vehicles. 

Kareto, 153 kilometres north of the Borno state capital Maiduguri, houses the Nigerian army’s 149 Battalion, which is deployed to fight ISWAP and its rival fellow jihadist group Boko Haram. 

The base has been repeatedly targeted by both groups. 

Jihadist groups have been waging a 15-year-old insurrection for an Islamic Caliphate that has killed more than 40 000 people and displaced around two million more. 

– Nampa/AFP