Since 2019, the army has shut down smaller outposts and regrouped its forces into larger, heavily fortified bases [Audu MARTE / AFP via Getty Images]
Nigeria’s military said it killed at least 50 militants during clashes this week at a base in the country’s northeast, the heartland of a long-running Islamist insurgency.
Since 2009, the country has been battling Boko Haram and its splinter faction the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which both seek to establish an Islamist caliphate in the region.
The military said the Islamist militants were killed Thursday as forces fought off a coordinated ISWAP assault on the headquarters of its 27th brigade in the town of Buni Gari, as well as a nearby checkpoint in Yobe state.
“The assault, launched at approximately 0200 hours under the cover of darkness by a large number of terrorists from multiple axes, was met with devastating firepower, tactical brilliance and resolute determination by troops,” the arm said in a Friday statement.
It added that “no fewer than 50 terrorists were neutralised” and a large cache of weapons and ammunition was recovered, though two soldiers were also killed.
Photographs released by the military and seen by AFP showed bodies along with seized weapons and ammunition.
An intelligence source who requested anonymity confirmed the attack and the army’s counteroffensive.
However, the source said the military had “grossly underdeclared its casualties and bloated the losses suffered by the terrorists”, without giving exact figures.
Another intelligence source said military casualties, both dead and wounded, had been taken to Maiduguri, the capital of neighbouring Borno state, in six ambulances, adding the exact number was unclear.
Boko Haram and ISWAP have stepped up attacks in recent months after a period of relative calm.
Since 2019, the army has shut down smaller outposts and regrouped its forces into larger, heavily fortified bases known as “super camps”, designed to better withstand attacks.
But some analysts say this strategy has allowed armed groups to move more freely in rural areas with less military presence.
The Islamist insurgency has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million in northeast Nigeria, according to the United Nations, and has spilled over into parts of neighbouring Niger, Cameroon and Chad in recent years.
