30 Boko Haram troops killed in ambush of Nigerian government convoy

BAMA , Nigeria, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Thirty suspected Boko Haram militants died when the Nigerian army repelled an ambush of traveling government members near Bama, a local official said.

"We were traveling from Pulka to Maiduguri when militants attacked our convoy with improvised explosive devices and sporadic gunshots, just after [passing the village of] Ngurosoye, but the troops repelled them, killing up to 30 of the terrorists," said Saeed Salisu, chairmen of the government of Gwoza, in northeastern Borno state.

Nigerian troops escorting the convoy Sunday returned fire. No government officials were injured, but several soldiers were treated for injuries at a nearby barracks hospital.

The insurgent group has perfected a new tactic of waiting to ambush convoys. At least two senior officers were killed in the past two months, including Lt. Col. Mohammed Abu-Ali, a commanding officer in the army's counter-terrorism unit, the Nigerian newspaper the Guardian reported Monday.

Analysts blame the country's dry season, improving Boko Haram's mobility, and the Nigerian army's inadequate military equipment, for failing to finally defeat the weakened insurgent movement, Turkey's Anadolu Agency said.