Jihadists in northeast Nigeria attacked a navy base in a single day, sending 5,000 civilians fleeing over the border to Cameroon, safety sources and witnesses mentioned on Friday.
This 12 months has seen a resurgence of violence by Boko Haram and its rival offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), each engaged in a long-running insurgency within the west African nation.
The in a single day assault on the cities of Banki and Freetown, each close to the Cameroon border, come lower than a fortnight after an assault on displaced folks resettled from the battle in close by Darul Jamal, during which round 90 folks had been killed.
Witnesses blaming Boko Haram mentioned militants struck Banki round midnight and that one civilian was killed within the ensuing gun battle between troops and insurgents.
“In every single place folks had been screaming and working,” resident Amina Bakari informed AFP after fleeing throughout the border.
Ayuba Isa, the second-in-command on the Banki navy base, mentioned the attackers tried to overrun the bottom earlier than reinforcements arrived and repelled them.
“Our males fought bravely and we had been capable of push them again,” he mentioned. “Sadly, civilians had already fled and plenty of properties had been destroyed.”
A safety monitoring report produced for the United Nations and seen by AFP mentioned the attackers belonged to ISWAP.
It mentioned the air drive was known as in to supply help and the assault was stopped however two troopers and two civilians had been killed and 5,000 folks fled throughout the border to Cameroon.
An air drive spokesman didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Though violence has waned since its peak between 2013 and 2015, Boko Haram and ISWAP nonetheless maintain sway throughout swathes of Nigeria’s rural northeast.
Since 2009, the battle has killed greater than 40,000 civilians and compelled greater than two million folks to flee their properties, in accordance with the UN.
