A Nigerian army patrol vehicle hit a landmine planted by Islamic State group-aligned jihadists near the border with Cameroon, killing eight soldiers, defence sources told AFP Sunday.
The attack happened in the northeastern state of Borno on Saturday, the same day the Nigerian Army Chief, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, was visiting the state capital, Maiduguri, over an attack on a base days earlier that killed 15 soldiers and five anti-jihadist militia members.
Jihadist violence in Nigeria which erupted in 2009 has eased since its peak a decade ago, but violence has been on the rise in the last two years.
In the latest attack, troops were inspecting anti-jihadist militia members who were clearing thickets along the highway outside the town of Gamboru when their vehicle rolled over the mine and exploded, killing all eight on board, the sources said.
The sources blamed the attack on Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which is active in the area.
Jihadists use thickets along the highway as cover to ambush troops and motorists.
“All eight soldiers in the vehicle were killed in the explosion,” which happened in Kinuba village, 25 kilometres (15.5 miles) from Gamboru, a military officer in the region said.
Ibrahim Liman, an anti-jihadist militia member assisting the military against jihadists, gave the same toll.
“The explosive was planted on the dusty road and remotely detonated by a detonating cord,” Liman said.
A militia member supervising the thicket clearing was injured by shrapnel, said Liman.
ISWAP and rival jihadist group Boko Haram have increasingly resorted to planting mines on highways against military and civilian targets.
The long jihadist conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced around two million from their homes in Nigeria’s northeast.
The violence has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the militants.
