THE US army provided counter-insurgency training to Nigerian troops fighting a rise in attacks by Islamist militants, the Nigerian military has revealed.
More than 100 people have been killed in recent days by the radical Muslim sect Boko Haram, dubbed the “Nigerian Taliban”, in Nigeria’s northeast. One human-rights activist described it as “a state of armed Islamist insurgency” that is likely to spread.
Nigeria has sought to crush the group with military force but faces criticism from human-rights activists for alleged extra-judicial killings. The military said some battalions had received training in the US.
“The army is in the process of setting up a division that is effectively looking at warfare tactics,” a spokesman said. “Various battalions were in the United States earlier this year for training to that end.”
It is thought these include specialist units such as bomb disposal.
US officials confirmed it had a longstanding deal with Nigeria, with soldiers travelling to the US for training. It could not comment on whether the exercises were aimed at combating Boko Haram.
The US embassy in Abuja said: “We have had a mil-mil relationship with the Nigerians for decades, principally supporting their peacekeeping efforts in Africa [Liberia, Sierra Leone and Darfur] and around the globe.
“In recent years, and at their request, we have also worked with them on their nascent counterforce. We do not know if any of these elements have been deployed in the north.”
Boko Haram, loosely modelled on the Taliban, became active in 2003 and is focused mainly in the impoverished northern states.
In 2009, it staged attacks in the northeastern city of Bauchi. In December 2010, the sect said it was behind bombings in central Nigeria and attacks on churches in the northeast that led to the deaths of at least 86 people. At least 361 people have been killed this year. – (Guardian service)