ABUJA, (Xinhua) – The Nigerian military said Thursday it has identified a new terror group known as “Lukarawas” exacerbating insecurity in the northwestern part of the country.
Edward Buba, the spokesman for the military, told reporters in the national capital of Abuja that the suspected terror group, with a yet-to-be-known ideology, has so far made an incursion into the northwestern states of Sokoto and Kebbi.
Buba said the terror group is suspected to have emerged from a neighboring West African country, where a recent coup led to the breakdown of military cooperation with Nigeria.
“The terrorists took advantage of the gaps in cooperation between both countries and exploited difficult terrains to make incursions in remote areas,” the military spokesman said, noting there used to be joint border operations between Nigerian security forces and those of the neighboring country, which “kept the terrorists at bay.”
Upon its incursion into Nigeria, the suspected terror group was accommodated by the locals in the aforementioned northwestern states, who initially thought that the group meant well for them and failed to report the movement to the military and security agencies, he said.
Buba said the military has launched sustained intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions to locate and eliminate its members.
The terror group has continued to take advantage of the vast under-governed areas to hide and evade troops as well as harass the locals, he added.
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