At least 65 Nigerian soldiers killed in jihadist raids in

At least 65 Nigerian soldiers have been killed in jihadist raids across the country’s north-east in the last two weeks, as the west African state battles to contain one of the world’s deadliest terror groups.

On 5 and 6 March, gunmen from Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap) overran four military bases in Borno state, the epicentre of the insurgency. Nigerian daily the Punch reported that about 40 soldiers were killed in total in these attacks.

In a statement on 7 March, the same day a mass funeral was held for the fallen troops, the military disputed the death toll but did not provide an alternative number.

Nigerian troops “successfully defeated multiple coordinated attacks launched by Iswap terrorists on military locations in Delwa, Goniri, Kukawa and Mainok” on 8 and 9 March, the army said in another statement.

According to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data, 300 people, including women and children, were also abducted by Iswap gunmen, who used sophisticated machinery including anti-aircraft machine guns and drones during the raids.

The attacks follow a pattern of coordinated raids by jihadists on military facilities in the country’s north, which is being ravaged by an almost two-decade insurgency that spiked after the extrajudicial killing of Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf in July 2009.

Nigeria has been struggling to contain the conflict, which has spread to cover the Lake Chad basin area, also cutting across Cameroon, Chad and Niger. More than 2 million people have been displaced by the insurgency.

Since then, the sect has broken into at least three factions, including the ruthless Iswap. In November, a general was killed by jihadists who then taunted Nigerian authorities by releasing footage about his death even as the state denied his capture.

Last month, 200 US troops arrived in northern Nigeria to train their counterparts, weeks after the US president, Donald Trump, announced airstrikes on terrorist elements in the region.

The Nigerian establishment, including the president, Bola Tinubu, has been heavily criticised for seemingly prioritising a mass wedding involving 10 sons and daughters of the junior defence minister Bello Matawalle in Abuja last month. On Tuesday, Matawalle also drew flak for a social media post applauding the defection of the governor of Zamfara, his home state, to the ruling party in a week of multiple Iswap attacks.

The minister’s last post about the military was on 15 January, Nigeria’s Armed Forces Remembrance Day. “We also remember our fallen heroes – those who paid the ultimate price so our nation may live in peace,” he posted. “Their sacrifice will never be forgotten.”

At least 65 Nigerian soldiers killed in jihadist raids in country’s north-east

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