POLICE in Nigeria say four officers were killed in Borno state after a gun battle with suspected Islamist insurgents.
Borno has been the heartland of an insurgency by Boko Haram and splinter outfit Islamist State West Africa Province (ISWAP) for more than a decade in the northeast.
Borno state police spokesperson Nahum Daso Kenneth said on Saturday, that the militants attacked Gajiram town in the Nganzai local government area, some 82 kilometres (51 miles) from Maiduguri, the state capital on Friday night.
“Our men engaged them in a gun battle (and) they denied the terrorists access to the town, and repelled the attack. Unfortunately, four policemen have paid a supreme price,” Kenneth said, adding that calm had returned to the town.
ISWAP fighters are known to operate in Nganzai, where they carry out sporadic attacks against security forces and residents.
The country is grappling with widespread insecurity, including armed bandits who kidnap for ransom in the northwest, deadly farmer-herder clashes in the central belt and separatist and gang violence in the southeast.
