Seven Nigerian troops killed in militants attack

Seven soldiers were killed on Tuesday when Daesh-affiliated militants attacked a military position in northeastern Nigeria, two military sources told the media.

Fighters in several trucks fitted with machine guns attacked a military position in Mainok village, 56 kilometres (35 miles) from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, they said on Wednesday

"We lost seven men in the attack by the terrorists. Two soldiers went missing and five soldiers were injured," the first source said.

The second source confirmed the toll, adding that the militants destroyed two military guntrucks and three anti-aircraft machine guns.

Borno state police spokesman Edet Okon said in a statement that four guntrucks, including two seized from the army in the attack, had been recovered.

The assailants are suspected members of the Daesh West Africa Province (ISWAP), a group that split from Boko Haram in 2016 and has stepped attacks against the military since mid-2018.

The group has increasingly been abducting motorists at bogus checkpoints in Borno state, targeting security personnel, anti-militant militia and Christians.

Mainok lies along the 120-km highway linking Maiduguri and Damaturu, the capital of neighbouring Yobe state.

The village has suffered a rise in militant abductions, prompting increased military deployments.

Last week Wednesday four soldiers were killed and seven injured when ISWAP militants attacked troops in Auno village along the same highway, days after 11 troops were killed in nearby Jakana village.

The decade-long conflict has killed 35,000 people and displaced around two million from their homes in northeast Nigeria.

The violence has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the insurgents.

Agence France-Presse