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The blasts happened on a busy road connecting the towns of Rann
and Gamboru in Borno state, near the border with Cameroon,
Nigerian police spokesperson Nahum Daso told The Associated
Press. Multiple explosives planted along the route ripped into
several civilian commercial vehicles coming from Rann, killing
at least 26 people, he said.
Most of those killed were local farmers and traders crowded in a
Toyota pick up van that drove over a land mine, Daso said. He
said the mine was buried by suspected militants from the Islamic
State affiliate known as IS West Africa Province.
Besides the dead, at least three people were injured and were
taken to nearby medical facilities for treatment. Security
forces have since secured the area and begun clearance
operations.
Abba Modu, a member of the Civilian Joint Task Force, a
vigilante group that supports the military in the fight against
Islamic militants, said the explosives may have been intended
for security operatives who regularly patrol the highway.
“Terrorists often plant IEDs in craters or under sand on
severely damaged sections of roads, typically targeting
soldiers,” Modu said.
The Islamic State West Africa Province, also known as ISWAP,
claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on Telegram
on Tuesday.
The IS-linked group is an offshoot of Boko Haram, Nigeria's
homegrown jihadis who took up arms in 2009 to fight Western
education and impose their radical version of Islamic law.
In 2016, ISWAP broke away from Boko Haram following a dispute
over leadership and the strategy of attacking civilian targets
such as mosques and marketplaces.
The conflict between Nigeria and Islamic extremists is Africa’s
longest struggle with militancy. It has spilled into Nigeria’s
northern neighbors Chad, Niger and Cameroon, and has left some
35,000 civilians dead and more than 2 million displaced,
according to the U.N.
Nigeria's northeastern region has been particularly hard hit by
Islamic militant violence.
Earlier this month, a roadside bomb suspected to have been
planted by Islamic extremists in northeastern Nigeria struck a
passenger bus and killed eight people.
On Tuesday, the Nigerian military appointed a new commander,
Maj. Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, in the fight against Boko Haram
and the Islamic State West Africa Province insurgencies in the
northeast, the spokesperson for the operation said in a
statement.
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