At least seven Nigerian soldiers, including a military commander, were killed in an ambush carried out by militant groups in the northeast of the country, according to a military intelligence report on Saturday.
The attack occurred on Friday near the Konduga administrative region, about 35 kilometers from the city of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, which has been the center of the armed insurgency since the outbreak of Boko Haram activity in 2009.
The report explained that gunmen belonging to the groups “Boko Haram” and the “Islamic State in West Africa” (ISIS) targeted a military patrol, which led to the killing of soldiers, including a senior officer, while the Nigerian army has not yet issued an official comment.
A member of a local anti-jihadist militia confirmed the death toll, noting that attacks continued in rural areas not fully controlled by the government, despite the decline in violence compared to its peak a decade ago.
A week ago, militant groups attacked a military base in the village of Ngamdo, Borno State, using hand grenades and drones, killing seven other soldiers.
Since 2019, the Nigerian army has closed a number of its small bases and moved to larger, more fortified barracks, but critics believe that this strategy gave militants greater freedom to move in rural areas, and increased the risks of kidnapping and attacks against civilians.
The ongoing violence led to the displacement of about two million people in northeastern Nigeria, and its repercussions spread to neighboring countries, prompting the formation of a regional military alliance to confront jihadist threats in the region.
