Terrorists from the official Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) attacked the convoy belonging to the Borno State governor near Baga town on the Lake Chad shores. The attack came just two days after a similar attack on a regional governor in the restive northeast left at least 30 people dead.
The militants open fired at the governor’s convoy as he returned from Baga where he had accompanied hundreds of residents back home. A huge number of residents had fled Baga in 2014 following deadly jihadist attacks by Boko Haram. While the encounter was brief and no one was seriously injured the case was different when the governor’s convoy had been attacked just two days before. The first attack included machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades and happened near a military base outside Baga and left 30 people dead among them a dozen policemen, five soldiers, four militiamen, and nine civilians.
The group has been intensifying its attack on both military and the civilian population as local authorities have been encouraging the IDPs to return home despite the shaky security status. The attacks are the group’s form of psychological warfare to intimidate the residents, instill fear dissuade them from returning as if a highly protected person like the governor could be attacked then no one was safe from the terrorists. ISWAP is the ISIS recognized province in West Africa and splintered from its parent group Boko Haram.
