KANO
\nNigeria\u2019s military said on Thursday it had killed 50 militants using drones to carry out multiple attacks on army bases in the volatile northeast.
\nThe authorities in Africa\u2019s most populous country and one of its powerhouses, have been fighting the Boko Haram militant group and its Daesh West Africa Province (Daesh-WAP) splinter for 16 years.
\nThe groups are seeking to establish a caliphate in the northeast.
\nThe military did not say which faction was behind the attacks, but intelligence sources told AFP that Daesh-WAP militants were responsible.<\/p>\n
In the early hours of Thursday, troops aided by fighter jets engaged insurgents who had launched coordinated attacks on bases in the towns of Dikwa, Mafa and Gajibo in Borno state as well as in Katarko in neighboring Yobe state, a military spokesman said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe combined ground and air efforts resulted in the neutralization of over 50 terrorists across all the locations,\u201d Lt. Col. Sani Uba, a military spokesman in the northwest said in the statement.
\nHe said several soldiers were wounded in the fighting, without giving numbers.
\n\u201cSome vehicles and buildings were also gutted by fire from the terrorists\u2019 armed drones and RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) fire during the battle, especially in Mafa and Dikwa, where a part of the defenses were momentarily breached,\u201d he said.
\nArmed insurgents are increasingly using drones, often commercial models modified to drop bombs or grenades.
\nA resident in Mafa showed AFP videos and pictures from the area showing the charred carcasses of several trucks and said the militants had set them ablaze during the attack.
\nMafa locals said the trucks were mostly laden with cement heading to Chad whose drivers had parked for the night for fear of militant attacks on the highway.
\nThe conflict has killed more than 40,000 and displaced around two million in northeastern Nigeria.
\nIt has spilt over into neighboring countries, prompting the creation of a regional military coalition to combat the Islamist groups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KANO Nigeria\u2019s military said on Thursday it had killed 50 militants using drones to carry out multiple attacks on army bases in the volatile northeast. The authorities in Africa\u2019s most populous country and one of its powerhouses, have been fighting the Boko Haram militant group and its Daesh West Africa Province (Daesh-WAP) splinter for 16 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-510494","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n