Barely two months after a deadly attack on the convoy of the Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum, Jihadist fighters linked to the Islamic State group on Friday, September 25, again struck and killed several security personnel in an ambush on the convoy of the governor, a source told the Agence France Presse (AFP) Friday night.
Sources told AFP that eight policemen, three soldiers, and four members of a government-backed militia were killed in the attack on vehicles conveying the governor near the town of Baga on the shores of Lake Chad.
The insurgents opened fire with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades as the convoy was passing through a village close to the headquarters of the Multinational Joint Task Force, a military coalition of troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameron.
“The governor escaped unhurt but 15 security men on the convoy were killed in a fierce battle with the terrorists”, a source told AFP.
Sources said Zulum was on an assessment tour of Baga in preparation for the return of thousands of residents displaced from the town by the jihadists in 2014, when the incident occured.
The governor flew on an helicopter into the garrison town of Monguno, 60 kilometres (40 miles) away, and headed for Baga in a convoy under tight security, one of the sources said. All three sources were talking on condition of anonyonimity.
The IS-affiliated Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group maintains most of its camps on islands in Lake Chad and the region is known as a base for the jihadists.
The militant group has recently intensified attacks on military and civilian targets in the region.
It would be recalled that a similar attack was launched on Gov. Zulum’s convoy from ISWAP in July, outside Baga, forcing him to cancel his trip to the town.