Islamic State group claims attacks on Nigeria soldiers

By CHINEDU ASADU and MAAMOUN YOUSSEF
Associated Press

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The Islamic State group says its fighters in West Africa have staged successive attacks in Nigeria’s northeast, killing and wounding dozens of Nigerian soldiers. The latest of the attacks was announced in a statement Tuesday in which IS said “more than 30 Nigerian soldiers” were either killed or wounded in Borno state. The Nigeria military also reported killing “several” extremists and recovering a “large cache of weapons” and vehicles from the militants during “clearance operations” in Borno on Monday. The Islamic State in West Africa Province, a breakaway faction of the Boko Haram extremist group, have sought to consolidate their position in the Lake Chad basin and northeast Nigeria.