Islamic extremists kill dozens of troops in Nigeria’s northeast

PanARMENIAN.Net - Islamic extremists said Tuesday, September 20 they killed more than 40 troops from a multinational force in an attack on a convoy in northeast Nigeria - the fourth attack in three days following a lull as Nigeria’s home-grown insurgency confronts a leadership struggle, CBS News reports.

Analysts are warning that the struggle could lead to more violent attacks that will kill more people in a 7-year-old Islamic uprising started by Boko Haram that has killed more than 20,000 people, forced 2.6 million from their homes and spread to neighboring states.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS) West Africa Province annihilated “a convoy of the African Coalition Crusader forces” in the town of Malam Fatori, the SITE Intelligence Group reported, translating an IS communique posted on social media. There was no way to independently verify the claim and no word from Nigeria’s military late Tuesday night.

Eighteen people were killed Sunday and Monday when insurgents ambushed another convoy, gunned down Christians leaving a Sunday church service and beheaded a village head and his son.

No one has claimed responsibility for the earlier attacks.

Tuesday’s was the first Nigeria attack claimed by IS since August, when it named a new caliph in Nigeria and provoked a struggle with the longtime leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau.

Shekau pledged Boko Haram’s allegiance to the IS in 2015, giving it its first sub-Saharan franchise. IS said it replaced Shekau in August, in a dispute that revolved around his indiscriminate killings of Muslims, CBS says.

Many more Muslims than Christians have been killed in attacks targeting mosques, churches, marketplaces and schools.