Scores of Boko Haram fighters have launched overnight attacks at a military base in Borno State.
Machine-gun wielding fighters attacked the base in the town of Marte in the Lake Chad area overnight Friday into Saturday, two sources told AFP on Saturday.
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“The priority now is to reclaim the base from the terrorists and an operation is under way,” one of the sources said.
“We took a hit from ISWAP terrorists. They raided the base in Marte after a fierce battle.”
The second source said the army “incurred losses” but it was not yet clear how many people had died or the level of destruction inflicted by the insurgents.
The military, however, said in a statement on Saturday that troops of Operation Tura Takaibango in conjunction with Air Task Force Operation Lafiya Dole eliminated scores of the terrorists and destroyed seven of their gun trucks.
Acting Defence spokesman Brig.-Gen. Benard Onyeuko said that unconfirmed number of insurgents were killed.
He said the troops, acting on reliable information about the attack, had positioned themselves in an ambush site where they tactically ambushed the insurgents and opened fire.
“The troops are still engaged in pursuit of the fleeing terrorists for further exploitation.
“Further details of interest to members of the public will be communicated later,” he said.
