KANO, Nigeria: Nigeria’s military said on Thursday it had killed 50 militants using drones to carry out multiple attacks on army bases in the volatile northeast.
The authorities in Africa’s most populous country and one of its powerhouses, have been fighting the Boko Haram militant group and its Daesh West Africa Province (Daesh-WAP) splinter for 16 years.
The groups are seeking to establish a caliphate in the northeast.
In the early hours of Thursday, troops aided by fighter jets engaged insurgents who had launched coordinated attacks on bases in the towns of Dikwa, Mafa and Gajibo in Borno state as well as in Katarko in neighboring Yobe state, a military spokesman said in a statement.
The military did not say which faction was behind the attacks, but intelligence sources told AFP that Daesh-WAP militants were responsible.
“The combined ground and air efforts resulted in the neutralization of over 50 terrorists across all the locations,” Lt. Col. Sani Uba, a military spokesman in the northwest said in the statement.
He said several soldiers were wounded in the fighting, without giving numbers.
“Some vehicles and buildings were also gutted by fire from the terrorists’ armed drones and RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) fire during the battle, especially in Mafa and Dikwa, where a part of the defenses were momentarily breached,” he said.
Armed insurgents are increasingly using drones, often commercial models modified to drop bombs or grenades.
A resident in Mafa showed AFP videos and pictures from the area showing the charred carcasses of several trucks and said the militants had set them ablaze during the attack.
Mafa locals said the trucks were mostly laden with cement heading to Chad whose drivers had parked for the night for fear of militant attacks on the highway.
The conflict has killed more than 40,000 and displaced around two million in northeastern Nigeria.
It has spilt over into neighboring countries, prompting the creation of a regional military coalition to combat the Islamist groups.
Nigerian military says kills 50 jihadists in army base raids
https://arab.news/2km4g
Nigerian military says kills 50 jihadists in army base raids
- The groups are seeking to establish a caliphate in the northeast
- “The combined ground and air efforts resulted in the neutralization of over 50 terrorists across all the locations,” Lt. Col. Uban said
Pakistan says it struck militant hideouts along Afghan border after surge in deadly attacks
- Pakistan has seen a surge in militant violence in recent years, much of it blamed on the TTP and outlawed Baloch separatist groups
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said early Sunday it carried out strikes along the border with Afghanistan, targeting hideouts of Pakistani militants it blames for recent attacks inside the country.
Islamabad did not say in precisely which areas the strikes were carried out or provide other details. There was no immediate comment from Kabul, and reports on social media suggested the strikes were carried out inside Afghanistan.
In comments before dawn Sunday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar wrote on X that the military conducted what he described as “intelligence-based, selective operations” against seven camps belonging to the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, and its affiliates. He said an affiliate of the Daesh group was also targeted in the border region.
In October, Pakistan also conducted strikes deep inside Afghanistan to target militant hideouts.
Tarar said Pakistan “has always strived to maintain peace and stability in the region,” but added that the safety and security of Pakistani citizens remained a top priority.
The latest development came days after a suicide bomber, backed by gunmen, rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the wall of a security post in Bajaur district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. The blast caused part of the compound to collapse, killing 11 soldiers and a child, and authorities later said the attacker was an Afghan national.
Hours before the latest border strikes, another suicide bomber targeted a security convoy in the nearby Bannu district in the northwest, killing two soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel. After Saturday’s violence, Pakistan’s military had warned that it would not “exercise any restraint” and that operations against those responsible would continue “irrespective of their location,” language that suggested rising tensions between Islamabad and Kabul.
Tarar said Pakistan had “conclusive evidence” that the recent attacks , including a suicide bombing that targeted a Shiite mosque in Islamabad and killed 31 worshippers earlier this month, were carried out by militants acting on the “behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers.”
He said Pakistan had repeatedly urged Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to take verifiable steps to prevent militant groups from using Afghan territory to launch attacks in Pakistan, but alleged that no substantive action had been taken.
He said Pakistan urges the international community to press Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities to uphold their commitments under the Doha agreement not to allow their soil to be used against other countries.
Pakistan has seen a surge in militant violence in recent years, much of it blamed on the TTP and outlawed Baloch separatist groups. The TTP is separate from but closely allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, who returned to power in 2021. Islamabad accuses the TTP of operating from inside Afghanistan, a charge both the group and Kabul deny.
Relations between the neighboring countries have remained tense since October, when deadly border clashes killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants. The violence followed explosions in Kabul that Afghan officials blamed on Pakistan.
A Qatar-mediated ceasefire has largely held, but talks in Istanbul failed to produce a formal agreement, and relations remain strained.
