Another deadly attack in Nigeria. At least 30 people were killed in the evening of Sunday, February 9, in a jihadist attack near a village near the capital of Borno state, Maiduguri, the area where the Islamic State group in Africa is raging. 'West (Iswap), we learned Monday from official sources.

Insurgents "killed as many as 30 civilians, most of whom were on the road - between Maiduguri and Damaturu - and burned 18 vehicles," according to a statement from the local government, adding that "several women and children also been kidnapped. "

In the aftermath of the attack, dozens of burnt-out trucks, buses and cars lined up along the road, an AFP journalist said. A militia member who fights jihadists alongside the army has counted around 30 burnt trucks. The combatants also seized three buses which were on their way to Maiduguri.

"Many truck drivers and their assistants have died, burned alive in their sleep," Babakura Kolo told AFP. "It is not known how many women and children have been abducted, but the number is significant. "

The jihadists then looted the village of Auno, before setting it on fire.

An attack not claimed for the moment

Security is extremely uncertain on the road between Maiduguri (Borno State) and Damaturu (Yobe State), the only umbilical cord for survival for Maiduguri, a city of several million inhabitants surrounded by violence.
This attack has not yet been claimed, but the region has recently come under the control of Iswap, a branch of the jihadist group Boko Haram affiliated with the Islamic State organization, which multiplies the kidnappings and attacks on this road for several weeks.

They regularly set up false military checkpoints there, and dress in soldier's clothes to stop cars, kidnap passengers and loot cargo from trucks.

In early December, fourteen people, including two aid workers, were kidnapped from the locality of Jakana and already last month, four Nigerian soldiers were killed and seven injured when the jihadists attacked their position in Auno.

The United Nations recently alerted to an increase in the number of attacks in north-eastern Nigeria, in particular due to the "super military camps" strategy of the Nigerian army, which has gathered its troops in a few specific points, in a huge region, where infrastructure is poor or even non-existent.

Populations and NGOs regularly denounce this tactic, which leaves whole areas of the territory once again out of control, and millions of people living in insecurity, without state protection and without access to humanitarian aid.

The conflict between the Nigerian armed forces and Boko Haram has killed 35,000 people and displaced around two million people from their homes since 2009.

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