Suicide Bomber Kills Five Soldiers in Borno

Suicide Bomber Kills Five Soldiers in Borno

A suicide bomber targeted a military post in northeastern Nigeria near the Cameroon border on Sunday, killing at least five soldiers, according to security and local defense sources.

The attack occurred at a military position in the Firgi area near the town of Pulka in Borno state. Sources who spoke with AFP on Monday night and Tuesday morning reported the casualties. The assault is part of a recent escalation of militant raids on military bases in Nigeria’s northeast, where a protracted jihadist insurgency persists.

Umar Sa’idu, a member of a government-backed civilian militia, said he assisted in transporting the victims. “I counted five bodies lying in blood at the back of my house,” Sa’idu told AFP by phone. “After some hours, medical personnel at UMTH (University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital) confirmed that all five victims we gave escort to had died.”

Sa’idu said the bomber was a suspected Boko Haram member believed to have come from the nearby Mandara Mountains. Bukar Aji, a local hunter, stated the assailant approached the soldiers and detonated an explosive device strapped to his body.

Lieutenant Colonel Sani Uba, the military’s spokesman for the northeast region, confirmed the attack but did not confirm fatalities. “Our gallant soldiers shot the attacker when he attempted to carry out the bombing in their own position,” Uba told AFP.

“Unfortunately, our gallant soldiers sustained varying degrees of injury and are currently receiving medical care.”

Police also confirmed the attack but offered no further details.

The region around Pulka, close to the rugged Mandara Mountains on the Nigeria-Cameroon border, has long been a refuge for jihadist militants linked to Boko Haram and its splinter factions. While suicide bombings, a hallmark of Boko Haram’s strategy over a decade ago, have become less frequent due to military pressure, deadly attacks continue.

Nigeria has been fighting a jihadist insurgency since 2009. The conflict has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced around two million in the northeast, according to the UN. Violence has spilled into neighboring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, and concerns are growing about a resurgence in parts of Nigeria’s northeast.

The last major suicide attack occurred in June, when a woman allegedly acting for Boko Haram killed 20 anti-jihadist fighters in Borno. In January, a jihadist blast in a wasteland between Borno and Yobe states killed at least 27 soldiers, marking one of the deadliest suicide attacks on Nigerian troops in recent years.

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