Sawt Falasteen - Nigerian military says killed 50 jihadists in army base raids

Africa's most populous country has been fighting the Boko Haram jihadist group and its Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) splinter for 16 years as they seek to establish a caliphate in the northeast.

In the early hours of Thursday, troops aided by fighter jets engaged insurgents who had launched coordinated attacks on bases in the towns of Dikwa, Mafa and Gajibo in Borno state as well as in Katarko in neighbouring Yobe state, a military spokesman said in a statement.

The military did not say which group was behind the attacks but intelligence sources told AFP that ISWAP militants were responsible.

"The combined ground and air efforts resulted in the neutralisation of over 50 terrorists across all the locations," Lieutenant Colonel Sani Uba said in the statement.

Ground and aerial pursuits were still ongoing to track down "over 70 of the wounded" insurgents, Uba added.

Soldiers seized dozens of kalashnikovs, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) from the militants, he said.

In a post on X, the army shared pictures showing soldiers standing over a row of several bodies said to be of jihadist fighters and their weapons at one of the targeted military bases.

Uba said several soldiers were wounded in the fighting, without giving numbers.

"Some vehicles and buildings were also gutted by fire from the terrorists' armed drones and RPG fire during the battle, especially in Mafa and Dikwa, where a part of the defences were momentarily breached," he said.

Armed insurgents in west Africa are increasingly using drones, often commercial models modified to drop bombs or grenades.

- Cross-border attack -

Northeast Nigeria's conflict has spilled over into neighbouring countries, prompting the creation of a regional military coalition.

The militants who attacked the bases in Gajibo and Dikwa entered from neighbouring Cameroon, according to a security report prepared for the United Nations and seen by AFP.

Although the insurgents suffered heavy losses, including five commanders, they succeeded in raiding the base in Mafa and looting it after forcing troops to withdraw during the fight, according to the report.

The latest attacks underscore ISWAP's resilience and its "persisting capacity for attacks on the military in the northeast", it warned.

Although violence has waned since its peak a decade ago, researchers have warned of an uptick in jihadist attacks this year.

A resident in Mafa showed AFP videos and pictures from the area showing the charred carcasses of several trucks and said the militants had set them ablaze during the attack.

The images have not been independently verified.

Mafa locals said the trucks were mostly laden with cement heading to Chad, and that their drivers had parked for the night for fear of militant attacks on the highway.

The conflict has killed more than 40,000 and displaced around two million people in northeastern Nigeria.

Earlier this month, at least 14 soldiers were killed in two attacks in Borno state blamed on insurgents -- one at an army base, the other when a military convoy was ambushed.

Since 2019, soldiers have shut down some smaller army bases and moved into larger, fortified garrisons known as "super camps" in an attempt to better resist militant attacks.

Critics say the strategy has allowed militants more freedom to move around rural areas and left travellers more vulnerable to kidnapping.

C.Hamad--SF-PST