<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>At least 23 members of Nigeria’s civilian joint task force were killed on Saturday in separate attacks by militants and an armed kidnapping gang in the north, two officials from the force said on Sunday.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In northeast Borno state, the heartland of an Islamist insurgency, suspected Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters used an improvised explosive device (IED) to blow up a vehicle carrying the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) team, a local force chairman said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The CJTF was first formed in 2013 to protect communities in the northeast and help the military fight Boko Haram and later its offshoot ISWAP. The force has since been extended to other northern states that are grappling with armed kidnapping gangs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tijjanima Umar, CJTF chairman for Gamboru Ngala area near the border with Cameroon, said his team was travelling to Borno state capital Maiduguri when they drove over the IED.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“As the mine blew up, nine of them died instantly…while two other people had severe injuries and were immediately taken to hospital for treatment,” Umar told Reuters by phone.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Nigerian military was not immediately available to comment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although severely curtailed by Nigerian security forces, Boko Haram and ISWAP still carry out deadly attacks against civilians and the military.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In northwestern Soko state, 14 CJTF members were killed and several were missing following an ambush by gunmen on Saturday, task force sector commandant Ismail Haruna told Reuters.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Haruna said the CJTF members were killed in Sokoto’s Isa local government area, where they had raided and destroyed a bush camp belonging to a known armed kidnapping gang leader, reports Reuters&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The gang quickly regrouped and ambushed the CJTF as they drove back to Sokoto state capital, he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/fas</div>