At least 23 Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) members were killed in two separate attacks in Nigeria on Saturday.
The CJTF was formed in 2013 to protect communities in northeast Nigeria and assist the military in fighting Islamist armed groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Nigeria is part of the Sahel region in West Africa that’s reeling from an Islamist insurgency for more than a decade. Besides Boko Haram and ISWAP, which is considered to be an offshoot of Boko Haram, Al Qaeda is also active in the region.
In the first attack, suspected ISWAP terrorists blew up a vehicle carrying CJTF team using an improvised explosive device (IED), as per Reuters.
The attack took place in Nigeria’s Borno state, which has been the heartland of an Islamist insurgency, as per the report.
The CJTF was first formed in 2013 to protect communities in the northeast and help the military fight Boko Haram and later its offshoot ISWAP. The force has since been extended to other northern states that are grappling with armed kidnapping gangs.
Tijjanima Umar, CJTF Chairman for Gamboru Ngala area, was quoted as saying that his team was travelling to Borno state’s capital Maiduguri when the IED blast struck them.