Their vehicle hit a landmine as they were pursuing Boko Haram insurgents
Landmines planted by Boko Haram jihadists have killed 11 security personnel, including four soldiers in Borno, security sources said Tuesday.
According to AFP, seven hunters recruited to help the military fight the Islamist insurgents were killed on Tuesday when their vehicle hit a landmine in the village of Kayamla, outside Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. The report said four soldiers had earlier been killed by landmines on Monday.
“Seven hunters died in the explosion and nine others are badly injured,” Babakura Kolo, the head of a local anti-jihadist militia, told AFP.
“Their vehicle hit a landmine as they were pursuing Boko Haram insurgents,” he added.
Another local militiaman confirmed the incident.
Earlier on Monday, four Nigerian soldiers were killed on Monday when their vehicle hit a landmine planted by Boko Haram fighters in Logomani village near the border with Cameroon, two security sources told AFP.
There has been a sharp increase in attacks in the North-East since the start of the month. Last week, 40 loggers were kidnapped and three killed near the Cameroonian border. On Christmas Eve, Boko Haram killed 11 people, burnt a church and seized a priest in a village near Chibok, where it notoriously kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls six years ago.
Boko Haram and a splinter group known as ISWAP have killed 36,000 people in the North-East and forced roughly two million to flee since 2009, according to the United Nations.