On 5 and 6 March, gunmen from Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap) overran four military bases in Borno state, the epicentre of the insurgency. Nigerian daily the Punch reported that about 40 soldiers were killed in total in these attacks.
In a statement on 7 March, the same day a mass funeral was held for the fallen troops, the military disputed the death toll but did not provide an alternative number.
Nigerian troops “successfully defeated multiple coordinated attacks launched by Iswap terrorists on military locations in Delwa, Goniri, Kukawa and Mainok” on 8 and 9 March, the army said in another statement.
According to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data, 300 people, including women and children, were also abducted by Iswap gunmen, who used sophisticated machinery including anti-aircraft machine guns and drones during the raids.
The attacks follow a pattern of coordinated raids by jihadists on military facilities in the country’s north, which is being ravaged by an almost two-decade insurgency that spiked after the extrajudicial killing of Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf in July 2009.
