Soldiers killed as military van runs into ISWAP landmine in Borno

An attack by Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) militants killed eight soldiers on Saturday in Borno state, Nigeria, when their military patrol vehicle collided with a landmine they had planted on a road. The incident occurred near the border with Cameroon on the same day that the Nigerian Army Chief, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, was in the state capital, Maiduguri, investigating an earlier attack that claimed the lives of 15 soldiers and five anti-jihadist militia members.

The soldiers were checking on anti-jihadist militia members clearing brush along the highway outside Gamboru when their vehicle rolled over the mine, resulting in an explosion that claimed the lives of all eight personnel in the vehicle. The attack, which took place in Kinuba village 25 kilometers from Gamboru, was attributed to ISWAP, a group active in the region.

ISWAP and other jihadist groups have increasingly used mines on highways to target both troops and civilians, contributing to a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced two million people in Nigeria’s northeast. This violence has also spread to neighboring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, leading to a regional military coalition in the fight against the militants.