About four police officers have been killed in northeast Borno state after a gun battle ensued between suspected Islamist insurgents and police officers according to reports by a police spokesperson on Saturday.
Borno State is notorious for being the heartland of the Boko Haram and Islamist State West Africa Province (ISWAP) insurgency for over a decade in the northeast. These militants keep carrying out deadly attacks against civilian and security targets regularly.
The Borno state police spokesperson, Nahum Daso Kenneth, revealed that the insurgents had on Friday night stormed Gajiram town in Nganzai local government area, Maiduguri, the state capital.
“Luckily for the residents, our men engaged them in a gun battle (and) they denied the terrorists access to the town, and repelled the attack. Unfortunately though, four policemen paid the supreme price.” Kenneth had added that calm had been restored to the town.
ISWAP fighters are notorious for operating in Nganzai, where they carry out random attacks against security forces and residents alike.
Nigeria is presently grappling with extensive insecurity, of which consists of armed bandits kidnapping residents for ransom in the northwest, deadly farmer-herder hostilities in the central belt and separatist and gang violence in the southeast.
