Turkey decries Boko Haram terrorist attack in Nigeria

By Sena Guler

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey on Monday condemned a “heinous” terrorist attack in Nigeria that caused many casualties.

“We are deeply saddened by the news that 19 soldiers lost their lives and a further 13 wounded, during a terrorist attack perpetrated by the terrorist organization Boko Haram against a military convoy on 12 March 2021, in the Gudumbali region located in the Borno State of Nigeria,” the Foreign Ministry said in a written statement.

“We strongly condemn this heinous terrorist attack,” it said, extending condolences to the families of the deceased and the “friendly and brotherly” people and government of Nigeria.

It also wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

Boko Haram launched a bloody insurgency in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria but later spread its atrocities to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a military response.

More than 30,000 people have been killed and nearly 3 million displaced in a decade of Boko Haram’s terror activities in Nigeria, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Violence has affected 26 million people in the Lake Chad region and displaced 2.6 million others, according to the UN Refugee Agency.