The Locals are MMobilising in Northeast Nigeria
Anti-Jihadist Highway Patrols Led by Activists in Northeast Nigeria
Anti-jihadist efforts result in Maiduguri highway patrols.
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Jossy Ola/Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
A group of government-supported activists patrolled one of the main roads in north-eastern Nigeria on Sunday.
The patrols are carried out on the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway in Borno state.
After jihadists from the Islamic State of West Africa province or ISWAP ambushed a convoy of civilians on Friday afternoon, other fighters from the same organisation opened fire on a military convoy the next day.
Armed with rocket launchers, they took the lives of five soldiers before kidnapping 35 civilians.
Background
Boko Haram and the dissident group ISWAP have killed 36,000 people and displaced approximately 2 million in a 10-year conflict.
ISWAP broke away from Boko Haram six years ago and has become dominant in the region where abductions of locals are on the rise, leading to as yet unsuccessful increased military deployments.