At least 20 Nigerian soldiers have been reportedly killed in a suspected attack by fighters from the ISIL affiliate in West Africa Province (ISWAP).
The attackers targeted an army base in the remote Malam-Fatori town in the northeastern Borno state on Friday, with a surviving soldier saying the attack lasted for more than three hours.
Boko Haram and ISWAP fighters mainly operate in Borno and have attacked both security forces and civilians, killing and displacing tens of thousands of people.
Reuters news agency, citing security sources and residents, on Sunday said a commanding officer was among those killed after ISWAP members arrived on gun trucks and attacked the Nigerian Army’s 149th Battalion in Malam-Fatori, gateway to the border with Niger.
“They rained bullets everywhere,” one of the surviving soldiers told Reuters by phone, adding that the troops were taken by surprise.
“We tried so much to repel the attacks and after more than three hours of gun duel, they overpowered us, killing our commanding officer, a lieutenant colonel,” the soldier said, declining to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
He said 20 soldiers died while several were injured.
Residents who left the town said some of the attackers were seen in Malam-Fatori as late as Saturday night.
Malakaka Bukar, a member of the local militia recruited to help the army, said the fighters also burned buildings, forcing some residents to flee the town.
“They preached to some of the residents,” said Bukar.
ISWAP split from the mainstream Boko Haram in 2016 to become the dominant armed faction in northeastern Nigeria.
Although weakened by military assaults and internal fighting over the years, Boko Haram and ISWAP have stepped up attacks in Borno since the turn of the year, killing dozens of farmers and fishermen in a series of raids.
The 15-year-old conflict has killed nearly 40,000 people and displaced around two million from their homes in the northeast.
The violence spilled into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, leading to the creation of a regional force to fight the armed groups.
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