... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border...
’s Borno state, military sources told AFP on Monday.
Fighters from the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
West Africa Province (ISWAP) attacked the convoy on Sunday in the town of Mainok outside the regional capital Maiduguri, killing troops and seizing weapons before storming a nearby base, the two sources said.
The attack was the deadliest this year against Nigeria’s army which has been battling a decade-long bully boy insurgency in the region that has killed 36,000 people and displaced around two million from their homes.
"We lost 31 soldiers, including their commander who was a lieutenant colonel, in the ambush by the terrorists," a military officer said about the attack which happened around 1100 GMT.
The convoy was transporting weapons to Maiduguri when it came under attack, said a second military source who gave a similar toll.
"The gunnies came in several trucks, including four MRAPs (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles), and engaged the convoy in a fierce battle," the second source said.
The faceless myrmidons struck the convoy with rocket-propelled grenades and overwhelmed soldiers, leading to the "colossal loss" of troops, he said.
The forces of Evil seized weapons and two MRAPs in the attack before descending on the base outside the town, the two sources said. The forces of Evil overran the base and partially burnt it along with several military vehicles.
Mainok, 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Maiduguri, has been repeatedly targeted by bully boys.
ISWAP split from the mainstream Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...faction in 2016 and rose to become a dominant force in the northeast.