Bomb-laden donkey used in Boko Haram assassination attempt in Nigeria

Donkeys are now being used as part of unconventional warfare. Photo / 123RF

Nigerian militants linked to Islamic State have used a bomb-laden donkey to attack a high-ranking government official, the latest in a series of violent attacks in the west African country.

The latest attack happened on Sunday when Babagana Zulum, Governor of Borno state, was returning to the state capital, Maiduguri, from the town of Baga, the BBC reported.

Zulum's convoy spotted a donkey on the road ahead and soldiers fired on it, setting off the explosives.

Boko Haram militants then emerged and fired on the convoy in a coordinated ambush, an official who was in one of the vehicles told the BBC.

A number of insurgents were killed in the ensuing shoot-out but the governor and his team survived unscathed.

The attack comes two days after Zulum survived another attack which killed 18.

AFP reported that Zulum has been pushing for displaced residents of Borno state to return to their homes, saying that feeding people displaced by violence in the state was not financially sustainable.

Boko Haram, which was thrust into the public consciousness in 2014 when they kidnapped 276 girls from a secondary school in the town of Chibok, has been engaged since 2009 in a violent insurgency across Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

The ongoing conflict has killed tens of thousands and led to millions being displaced from their homes.

They have been linked with the so-called Islamic State since 2015, when Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau pledged allegiance to the terror group.

Despite Nigeria's president claiming in 2019 that the group was "technically defeated", attacks have escalated in Nigeria in recent months