Daesh kills two civilians, including 5-year-old, in Nigeria

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Takfiri Daesh terrorists have killed two civilians, including a five-year-old, in an attack in northeast Nigeria, the United Nations (UN) says.

Edward Kallon, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, said in a statement on Saturday that the fatalities took place during an attack by the so-called West Africa Province (ISWAP) branch of Daesh in the town of Damasak in the northeastern Borno State.

The assault left several others injured.

Kallon said the terrorists also fired at and damaged a helicopter used to dispatch humanitarian support to the civilian population in vulnerable and hard-to-reach Nigerian states. He said no aid workers were on board at the time and crew members were all safe.

Kallon also called on the Nigerian authorities to reinforce the safety and security of humanitarian workers in the country’s northeast, which is close to the border with Niger and dominated by the ISWAP.

“I strongly condemn any attack against civilians, humanitarian assets or aid workers and call on all armed parties to respect international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and ensure the protection of civilians, humanitarian property and personnel,” Kallon said.

The attack was the second deadly assault against civilians and aid workers within a month.

The ISWAP made an alliance with the Boko Haram terrorist group in 2015 before separating in 2016.

ISWAP has been launching numerous attacks in Nigeria since Daesh lost all its urban strongholds in Iraq and Syria to government troops and allied fighters.

Both ISWAP and Boko Haram are notorious for ambushing military and civilian convoys on highways and abducting travelers at fake checkpoints.

Around 36,000 people have been killed in the decade-long Takfiri terrorism which has spilled over into neighboring Chad, Niger, and Cameroon and forced more than two million people to flee their homes.

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