Boko Haram Militants Kill at Least 50 in Northeast Nigeria

(Bloomberg) --

At least 50 people were killed and nine injured in attacks by Islamist militants on three local governments in Nigeria’s Borno state on Saturday.

The insurgents attacked military and civilian bases in the Monguno area, killing nine soldiers and three task force members and injuring nine civilians, said Hassan Ibrahim, a member of a local civilian force. The militants freed 18 detained suspects from police custody and burned a police van, he said.

About 38 bodies were recovered in a separate attack at the Goni Usmanti village of the Nganzai local government, according to Ibrahim. Details of casualties in the Gubio area are still unknown, he said.

Boko Haram has been attacking the region for over a decade, killing tens of thousands of people and displacing many more. In recent years factions of the group have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, including one that identifies itself as the Islamic State West Africa Province.

At least 70 people were killed in a similar attack in the Gubio area of Borno state on June 9.

Nigerian military spokesman Sagir Musa confirmed the attack on Monguno in an emailed statement, without specifying details of the casualties. The army subdued the insurgents and destroyed their equipment with the support of the Air Task Force, Sagir said.

The United Nations humanitarian hub in Monguno, which housed over 50 aid workers, sustained light damage during the clash that lasted about two hours, according to Eve Sabbagh, the UN humanitarian office spokeswoman in Nigeria.

“All the vehicles in front of the hub were set ablaze and an unexploded missile was found at the gate,” Sabbagh said.

Monguno is currently home to 150,000 internally displaced persons who are cared for by aid workers, according to Sabbagh.

“With Covid-19 we are trying to scale up some key prevention actions and it is critical to continue working in Monguno camps which are overcrowded,” she said.

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