TheCable

Boko Haram insurgents have killed an official of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) identified as John Iliya.

Iliya who was an excavator operator with NEMA, was killed on Wednesday at Damasak Borno state.

Mustapha Maihaja, director-general of NEMA, said the organisation had made arrangements for the returns of his remains to his family.

“[We] have been thrown into mourning,” Sani Datti, NEMA’s spokesman quoted Maihaja as saying.

“The DG and the management also condole with the family of the deceased over the loss.”

Datti said the deceased, who was working with troops on the front lines, died in the line of duty.

Iliya is the latest victim of the Islamic insurgency that flared since 2009, killing more than 20,000 people and displacing up to 2.5 million residents.

The insurgents have been fighting at many fronts for almost a decade.

The federal government has deployed a full-scale military force that has engaged the insurgents in fierce battle.

The insurgents, whose activities have also been felt in Chad, Niger and Cameroun, have been packing punches regularly, hitting civilian targets and other soft spots in the northeast.