Fourteen troops were injured when Islamist fighters attacked a base in remote northeast Nigeria near the border with Niger, military and local militia sources told AFP on Wednesday.
Several attackers were killed and nine captured when militants from the Islamist State West Africa Province (ISWAP) targeted the base in Malam Fatori with heavy guns and rocket-propelled grenades on Monday, the sources said.
Troops engaged the jihadists in a “fierce battle,” forcing them to withdraw, they added.
“ISWAP terrorists tried to storm the base but met stiff resistance from soldiers, leading to prolonged exchange of fire,” said Babakura Kolo, a militia leader assisting troops in fighting jihadists in the region.
“Fourteen soldiers were injured in the fight while several terrorists were killed and nine captured,” he added in an account supported by a military officer who gave the same casualty toll.
The officer asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak about the incident.
ISWAP took responsibility for the attack on the base, claiming in a statement issued on Wednesday that its fighters “killed and wounded” 12 soldiers as well as seized a machine gun, according SITE Intelligence, which monitors jihadist activities worldwide.
ISWAP militants have made several failed attempts to overrun the Malam Fatori base, which was established to fight off jihadist attacks.
Since January, ISWAP has carried out 12 attacks on the base, according to a SITE tally.
Malam Fatori, which lies 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the Borno state capital Maiduguri, was seized by Boko Haram Islamists in 2014 but was clawed back by the military in 2015.
Borno state government has since 2022 been encouraging Malam Fatori residents who fled into neighboring Niger to return, despite concern about the continued risk of attacks.
But each time they returned and started rebuilding their homes, ISWAP militants would raid the town and burn homes, forcing them to flee back across the border.
The latest attack happened two days after Borno authorities returned 1,000 Malam Fatori refugees from Niger’s Toumour village near the border.
The jihadist conflict in northeast Nigeria has killed over 40,000 people and displaced around two million in the northeast since it broke out in 2009.
The violence spilled into neighboring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, prompting a regional military force to fight the jihadists.
