Nigerian Army kills 30 suspected terrorists after attack on presidential guard in Abuja

MADRID, 29 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Nigerian Armed Forces have reported this Thursday that they have killed 30 suspected terrorists in a "cleaning patrol", in response to Friday's attack on the presidential guard in the capital of Africa's most populous country, Abuja, in which they died. eight people and three soldiers were injured.

"The troops successfully cleared the villages of Kawu and Ido. As a result, about 30 terrorists were neutralized and their enclave and hideout destroyed," Major General and spokesman for the defense headquarters said at a press conference on Thursday. Benard Onyeuko, as reported by the newspaper 'Premium Times'.

The Nigerian military has used ground forces and attack aircraft in its "mop-up operation."

"Troops from the 7th Guards Battalion and the 167th Special Forces Battalion, along with the Operation Whirl Punch air component, conducted a clearance patrol around the general area of ​​Bwari between July 24 and 26. of 2022," added Onyeuko.

Thus, he specified that "the ground troops also recovered six motorcycles, two AK47 rifles and a fully loaded LMG charger, among others."

Kogi state governor Yahaya Bello confirmed Tuesday an attack on the presidential guard in Abuja on Friday night in which eight people were killed and three soldiers wounded.

The soldiers, in charge of the security of the president and his family, as well as other high officials, were ambushed while patrolling the area of ​​Bwari, a local governorate in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

In this area is the Nigerian Law School and the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB), the alleged target of the attackers, suspected of belonging to the jihadist group Boko Haram in the framework of a possible expansion of terrorist and criminal networks. in the country, many of whom live by kidnapping students.

Attackers, suspected of belonging to the jihadist group Boko Haram, clashed with the military on Thursday night in an exchange of fire at a checkpoint in the Zuma Rock Madalla area, on the Kaduna-Abuja highway.

The attack occurred at 8:00 p.m. (local time) and it is still unknown if there are deaths or injuries, as reported by the Nigerian television channel Channels Television.

This new incident occurs amid growing insecurity in the area, which has forced the closure of all schools with "immediate effect" after a video circulated on social media in which the suspects threatened to kidnap the country's president. , Muhammadu Buhari, and the governor of the state of Kaduna, Nasir Ahmad al Rufai.

The train that connects Abuja and Kaduna is considered a safer means of transport than the roads that lead to this state, shaken for years by attacks by jihadist groups and criminal gangs that have increased their operations in recent months.

The attacks in Nigeria, previously focused on the northeast of the country - where Boko Haram and its offshoot, the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) operate - have spread in recent months to other areas of the north and northwest.