At least 353 Nigerians including 161 security agents have been killed by Boko Haram terrorists, Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP) and other violent groups across the country in the March 2020 alone, a new report has revealed.
The report, released on Monday by NigeriaMourns, also revealed that in the first quarter of 2020 alone, the country has already recorded the loss of at least 1,142 lives to violent killings compared to 3188 lives lost in the entire 2019.
The figures were based on attacks bordering around continued terrorism, banditry/pillage attacks, targeted and coordinated abductions, and extrajudicial killings perpetuated by security personnel.
It disclosed that the numbers in the month of March continue to highlight the deliberate targeting of security officers by insurgents, as about 161 security personnel were killed in March alone.
“For instance, at least 83 persons were killed in 7 insurgent attacks in the North-East. Of the stated number, at least 50 were soldiers who had been killed in an ambush by suspected Boko Haram gunmen near Goneri, a village in Yobe State. ISWAP insurgents also killed 5 police officers in Dapchi, Yobe State.
“Again, members of a joint security patrol team compromising of the Nigerian Army, the Police Force, and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps were attacked by unidentified armed men around Galkogo Forest, Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State leading to the death of at least 29 agents.
“In a similar fashion, at least 70 soldiers were killed when rocket-propelled grenades were fired on their convoy in an ambush, as they travelled near Gorgi village in Borno State,” the report read.
The report also revealed that the targeted attacks on security personnel by the terrorists and the successes of these ambushes buttress claims by security critics that the Nigerian Army has largely been under-equipped and are in need of better protective gears.
