Violence reportedly flaring up in region long plagued by ISIL affiliate in West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram.
At least 26 people have been killed as a truck hit an improvised explosive device in Nigeria’s restive northeast.
The blast on Monday killed men, women and children in Borno State, near the border with Cameroon, according to the military and residents. The region has been plagued for decades by armed groups including the ISIL affiliate in West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram, with violence flaring up in recent days.
“Twenty-six people died in the blast, comprising of 16 men, four women and six children,” a military officer speaking on condition of anonymity told the AFP news agency, adding that three further passengers were severely injured.
Borno State police offered no immediate comment.
The International NGO Safety Organisation, which provides security to foreign nongovernmental organisations in northeast Nigeria, said in an internal memo seen by the Reuters news agency that vehicles moving between the towns of Rann and Gamboru Ngala hit an IED.
“I took part in the funeral of the 26 people killed in the explosion; most of them were burned beyond recognition,” Akram Saad, a resident of the nearby town Rann, told AFP.
A video showed rows of bodies in white plastic bags laid on the floor of the morgue at Rann’s general hospital.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. But Abba Amma Muhammad, whose mother was killed, blamed the incident on Boko Haram.
Violence flares
Boko Haram’s uprising has plagued northeast Nigeria for the past 15 years, killing more than 40,000 people. The government has asserted that the groups are largely defeated, despite the persisting attacks.
ISWAP is also active in northern Borno and has launched sporadic ambushes on convoys and planted landmines along its highways.
The blast comes amid a flare-up of violence in northeast Nigeria in recent days, with the death toll rising to at least 50 people.
Boko Haram killed about 10 “vigilantes” from the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) in the state of Adamawa, sources reported earlier on Monday, according to AFP.
On Thursday, the group killed 14 farmers in Borno’s Gwoza district, a local official said.
Borno State governor Babagana Umara Zulum on Friday told Nigeria’s defence minister and military chiefs that Boko Haram and ISWAP were entrenching themselves in Lake Chad islands, Sambisa Forest and Mandara mountains on the border with Cameroon as a result of “military setbacks”.
