Suspected Boko Haram militants have ambushed and killed nine local security volunteers and a farmer in northeastern Nigeria, volunteers and police said on Friday.
The state-funded Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) is composed of locals recruited by the military in Nigeria’s Borno state and trained to help it combat jihadist insurgents.
A group of these vigilantes was reportedly ambushed on Thursday when they responded to the killing of a farmer outside Warabe, in Gwoza district, near the border with Cameroon.
“I personally counted seven bodies belonging to our CJTF members and one farmer,” a senior militia commander in Warabe told AFP of Thursday’s ambush.
“Then this morning, when we searched the bush, we found two more corpses,” he said.
A police officer in Gwoza district confirmed the attack, saying the alleged jihadists killed 10 people.
The reported attacks happened a week after a brigadier general was killed in the region when fighters from Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a rival to Boko Haram, ambushed an army convoy.
He was the highest-ranking military official since 2021 to die in the long-running conflict.
Another CJTF member, Musa Iliya, said Boko Haram militants had ambushed his colleagues and “killed seven”;
“Eight others are missing,” he said.
Warabe lies close to the Mandara Mountains, reputed to be a long-established stronghold for jihadist factions, including ISWAP fighters who operate along the Cameroon border.
AFP