19 troops killed in Nigeria jihadist attack

KANO, Nigeria: Islamic State-aligned jihadists ambushed a Nigerian military convoy, killing 15 soldiers and four militia fighters in the northeastern state of Borno, security sources said on Saturday.

The convoy came under heavy attack from Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters near Gudumbali in the Lake Chad region on Thursday, the sources said.

The attack was the latest in a jihadist conflict which has killed 36,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands in northeast Nigeria since it began more than a decade ago.

"We lost 15 soldiers and four civilian JTF (militia) in the terrorists’ ambush in the forest near Gudumbali," a military officer, who asked not to be identified, told AFP. He said 13 government fighters, including 10 troops, were wounded in the ambush.