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A raid by IS-affiliated jihadists on a military base in Borno State killed eight Nigerian soldiers and injured 23 others, three security sources told AFP on Wednesday.
About 70 fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group riding motorcycles attacked a base at Cross Kauwa village, leading to a fierce gun battle, the security sources said.
“Eight soldiers paid the supreme price, and 23 others sustained injuries,” a military officer said of the attack which struck on Monday.
The militants mobilised from a camp on Dabar Masara island in Lake Chad and made a long detour to attack the base, two sources in anti-jihadist militia supporting the military said, giving the same toll.
“The terrorists burnt down the base along with 11 gun trucks and took away the anti-aircraft guns mounted on them,” said one anti-jihadist militia source.
All the sources asked not to be identified as they were not authorised to speak about the incident.
The base, 24 kilometres from the fishing hub of Baga, has served as a major security bulwark shielding that town from jihadist attacks.
ISWAP and rival group Boko Haram have intensified attacks on military bases in the northeast.
Jihadists attacked two bases in Borno state at the weekend, killing and wounding troops and anti-jihadist militia, according to the military.
Late on Saturday, ISWAP attacked a base in Mandaragirau near the Sambisa forest jihadist enclave, killing and wounding an unspecified number of soldiers and militia, the military said in a statement.
In another incident, Boko Haram launched an attack on another base in Pulka near the border with Cameroon, destroying military equipment and accommodation before the attack was repelled with the help of reinforcements, the statement said.
Jihadist violence has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million in the northeast since 2009, according to the United Nations.
The conflict spread into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the militant groups.
The coalition has lost steam in recent years after the withdrawal of Niger due to a diplomatic spat with Nigeria following a 2023 military coup in Niger.
The United States is deploying troops to Nigeria to provide technical and training support to Nigerian soldiers in fighting the jihadist groups. The US Africa Command said 200 troops were expected to join the deployment overall. (AFP)
