ISIS use donkey strapped with explosives to ambush Nigerian governor’s convoy: Animal is blown to pieces when guards shoot its bombs before it can reach them
- Governor Babagana Zulum was returning to Borno state capital of Maiduguri
- Soldiers guarding Zulum shot the donkey when they spotted it in the road
- As explosives detonated, jihadists sprang from cover and opened fire
- Several jihadists were killed but fortunately nobody in the convoy was injured
ISIS have used a donkey strapped with explosives to ambush a Nigerian governor’s convoy.
The animal was blown to pieces when guards shot its bombs before it could reach them as Governor Babagana Zulum returned to the Borno state capital of Maiduguri.
As the explosives detonated, militants appeared from cover and opened fire on the convoy.
Fortunately nobody in the convoy was injured in the attempt on the governor’s life, the second in as many days in the war-ravaged northeast of the country.
Babagana Umara Zulum, Governor of the Borno state, addresses people at the Shehu of Borno’s palace in Maiduguri on February 12, 2020
Nigerian soldiers carry the body of a fellow serviceman during his funeral on September 26, 2020 as victims are buried following the attack on vehicles carrying Borno governor Babagana Umara Zulum near the town of Baga on the shores of Lake Chad
Nigerian soldiers and relatives look on as the body of a victim of the attack on vehicles carrying Borno governor Babagana Umara Zulum near the town of Baga on the shores of Lake Chad is buried
Zulum was returning from the town of Baga, 120 miles from the capital, where he was accompanying hundreds of residents who fled their homes in 2014 due to jihadist attacks
Zulum was returning from the town of Baga, 120 miles from the capital, where he was accompanying hundreds of residents who fled their homes in 2014 due to jihadist attacks.
On Friday, when the governor was on the road to the town, a ferocious ambush was launched on his convoy which left 30 dead.
‘The terrorists made away with an armoured personnel carrier, a gun truck and six sports utility vehicles in the convoy,’ a source told AFP.
Funerals were held for the soldiers on Saturday.
The IS-affiliated Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group maintains most of its camps on islands in Lake Chad and the region is known as a bastion for the jihadists.
Nigeria Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai (R) presents a Nigerian flag to a relative of a victim killed in the attack on vehicles carrying Borno governor Babagana Umara Zulum near the town of Baga on the shores of Lake Chad
The militant group has recently intensified attacks on military and civilian targets in the region.
In July Zulum’s convoy came under gun attack from ISWAP outside Baga, forcing him to cancel his trip to the town.
The decade-long insurgency in northeast Nigeria has killed 36,000 people and forced over 2 million from their homes.
Most of the displaced have been housed into squalid camps where they depend on food handouts from international charities.
A funeral for the victims of the attack on Saturday
Nigerian soldiers bow their heads at the funeral service on Saturday
Local authorities have been encouraging the displaced to go back to their homes despite concern from aid agencies of the security risks.
Zulum said last week that it was not sustainable to continue feeding the people of towns like Baga in refugee camps and that he wanted them to return to a ‘dignified’ life.
ISWAP splintered from the main Boko Haram group in 2016 and has gone on to be the dominant insurgent force in the region.