No fewer than 23 members of Nigeria’s Civilian Joint Task Force (CTJF) were killed by armed groups in separate attacks in Northern Nigeria on Saturday. These attacks occurred in Borno and Sokoto State.

This information was disclosed to Reuters by Tijjanima Umar, the CJTF chairman for Gamboru Ngala, a community near Nigeria’s border with Cameroon.

Umar told Reuters that suspected members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) used an improvised explosive device (IED) to blow up a vehicle carrying some CTJF members in Borno.

He added that the team was travelling to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, when they drove over the IED and nine members lost their lives in the attack.

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“As the mine blew up, nine of them died instantly, while two other people had severe injuries and were immediately taken to hospital for treatment,” Umar told Reuters.

The second attack, which happened in Sokoto, claimed the lives of 14 CTJF members, and several others were recorded missing.

Ismail Haruna, the task force sector commandant, told Reuters that members of CTJF were ambushed by militants in the Isa Local Government Area of Sokoto, where they had destroyed a camp belonging to an infamous kidnapping gang leader.

CTJF is a vigilante group in northern Nigeria formed to protect communities against attacks from Boko Haram.

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