New era | Eleven anti-jihadist militia fighters are killed in a landmine explosion in Nigeria

Eleven militia fighters working with the Nigerian army in the fight against jihadists were killed in the country’s northeast on Saturday when their vehicle hit a landmine on a highway near the border with Cameroon, two militia sources told AFP.

Jihadists in Nigeria are increasingly resorting to planting mines on highways to target military and civilian convoys after being pushed back from territory they once controlled during the early years of the country’s more than 15-year Islamist insurgency .

The militia fighters were escorting a civilian convoy from the town of Gamboru in Borno state to the regional capital Maiduguri when their vehicle ran over a landmine believed to have been planted by jihadists in the village of Damno at around 12:30 GMT, the two sources said.

“The rear tires of the vehicle carrying 13 of our comrades hit a large pit in which a landmine was buried and it exploded,” said Shehu Mada, an anti-jihadist militia leader in Gamboru. “Eleven people in the vehicle were killed, while two escaped with injuries.”

The victims were recovered from the remains of the vehicle and taken back to Gamboru for burial, said Usman Hamza, another militia member who demanded the same toll.

The militant conflict in Nigeria has gradually decreased in intensity as the military carries out offensives against the militants.

The Gamboru to Maiduguri highway is a 140 kilometer strategic trade route in the region and provides an important link with neighboring Cameroon.

The highway was reopened in July 2016 after being closed by the military for two years due to persistent jihadist attacks.

Boko Haram and the rival Islamic State West Africa (ISWAP) continue to sporadically launch ambushes on convoys from their hideouts and plant landmines along the highway.

In January, 17 people were killed along the highway in two separate mine explosions blamed on jihadists. In April, another ten people were killed by a landmine.

Nigeria’s escalating conflict has killed 40,000 people and driven about two million from their homes in the northeast since 2009. The violence has spread to neighboring countries Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

The recent military coups in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso and the subsequent withdrawal of French and US troops from the Sahel to northern Nigeria have increased concerns about regional instability and violence extending further into the West African coastal states .