Nigeria’s air force said on Saturday it had killed more than 70 fighters believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State in the north of the country, on the border with Niger.
Read alsoCovid-19: despite large stocks, vaccination is slipping in Nigeria
The Lake Chad area where Nigeria says it launched airstrikes is known to host fighters from the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP), a jihadist group active since 2016.
Together with their older rivals, Boko Haram, the two factions have killed more than 40,000 people over the past decade and more than two million people remain displaced from their homes due to ongoing violence.
“Missions carried out on April 13, 2022 over the suspicious locations identified a large number of terrorists and a probable logistics camp”, said Edward Gabkwet, spokesman for the Nigerian Air Force. As a result, airstrikes were “undertaken on 14 April 2022 in Tumbun Rego and at a training camp located approximately 2 km northwest of Tumbun Rego”he added in a press release.
Edward Gabkwet clarified that the airstrikes were carried out “using a mix of Nigerian Air Force and Nigerien Air Force aircraft.” “More than 70 ISWAP terrorists were either eliminated or seriously injured”he added.
Nigeria often steps up their offensive at this time of year, before the start of the rainy season. The soldiers have been fighting the jihadist insurgency for more than 12 years.
Since last year, ISWAP has mainly taken over from rival Boko Haram, after its leader Abubakar Shekau died in factional clashes. Shekau had gained international notoriety after kidnapping nearly 300 schoolgirls in Chibok in 2014.
Government troops are also battling heavily armed gangs in the northwest and separatist tensions in the southeast.