Jihadist ambush kills seven troops in northeast Nigeria

KANO - Jihadists in Nigeria's restive northeast killed seven troops this week, including an army commander, according to a military intelligence report seen by AFP Saturday.

The west African nation is battling a long-running insurgency by militants from Boko Haram and rival breakaway group Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).

While violence has waned since its peak a decade ago, jihadist attacks are a regular occurrence in the countryside, where government control remains weak.

The soldiers were killed in an ambush Friday in a village in the Konduga local government area, some 35 kilometres from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, the report said.

Borno has been the epicentre of jihadist violence in Nigeria since Boko Haram's uprising began in 2009.

A source in an anti-jihadist militia assisting the military confirmed the toll.

The army referred AFP to Nigeria's Defence Headquarters, where a spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A week prior, ISWAP jihadists attacked an army base in Borno state's gamdu village with grenades and drones, killing seven soldiers.

Since 2019, soldiers have shut down some smaller army bases and moved into larger, fortified garrisons known as "super camps" in an attempt to better resist militant attacks.

But critics say the "super camp" strategy has also allowed militants more freedom to move around in rural areas and left travellers more vulnerable to kidnapping.

The unrest has displaced around two million people in the northeast and spilled into neighbouring countries, prompting a regional military coalition fighting the Islamist groups to end violence.