At least eight Nigerian soldiers were killed and around 50 wounded after Islamist Boko Haram fighters attacked a military position in Borno State in northeastern Nigeria, security sources said on Wednesday.
The assault took place on Monday, with militants arriving on motorcycles and in armoured vehicles, according to the sources.
A military source said the targeted unit was part of an ongoing offensive aimed at flushing insurgents out of the so-called Timbuktu Triangle, a long-standing militant stronghold in the region.
Heavy fighting broke out as the insurgents engaged government forces, the sources added.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Nigerian military said its troops had cleared several Islamist strongholds in the Timbuktu Triangle and disrupted planned attacks involving vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs).
The military said one explosive-laden vehicle was neutralised, but a second breached defensive positions, killing several soldiers as well as members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), a civilian militia supporting the army.
A CJTF member confirmed the attack, saying government forces had been outnumbered during the assault.
The Timbuktu Triangle, a vast and hard-to-access area covering parts of Borno State, has for more than a decade served as a base for Boko Haram fighters launching coordinated attacks against military positions and civilian communities.
Boko Haram, a jihadist group that emerged in northeastern Nigeria in 2009, has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions across Nigeria and neighbouring countries.
The group later splintered, with one faction pledging allegiance to Islamic State and forming the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which has increasingly targeted military bases in recent years.
Despite repeated military operations, Boko Haram and its splinter groups have continued to carry out large-scale attacks, exploiting difficult terrain, porous regional borders and a limited state presence in parts of the arid northeast.
According to the sources, Nigerian forces have since withdrawn from the Timbuktu Triangle to a base in Damboa. The bodies of those killed and the wounded were being transported to the military hospital at Maimalari Barracks in Maiduguri.
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