Nigerian troops have beaten back a large-scale assault by Islamist insurgents on a military base in the north-east, killing at least 80 fighters including three senior commanders, the army said on Wednesday.
The pre-dawn attack targeted an army position in Mallam Fatori, near the border with Niger, and was carried out by a combination of fighters advancing on foot and armed drones — a sign of the growing tactical sophistication of groups that have been waging an insurgency in the region for nearly two decades. Military task force spokesperson Sani Uba said troops had anticipated the assault and mounted what he described as an “offensive-defensive” response, repelling the attack with ground fire backed by air support. Nigeria’s air force carried out precision strikes during the battle, with allied Nigerien jets also hitting insurgents as they retreated. Four Nigerian soldiers were wounded and evacuated for treatment.
Troops recovered a substantial weapons cache in the aftermath, including assault rifles, RPG launchers, machine guns, ammunition, improvised explosive devices and armed drone components. Reuters was unable to independently verify the military’s casualty figures or the claim that three high-profile commanders were killed.
The assault came just two days after Monday’s suicide bombings in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, which killed at least 23 people and left more than 100 injured. Together, the two attacks paint a picture of Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province — known as ISWAP — shifting tactics and ramping up pressure on both military and civilian targets simultaneously. Analysts have noted that the attack on Maiduguri, one of the most heavily defended cities in the region, suggests the groups are deliberately testing the limits of government operations against them rather than retreating into remote border areas as they had in recent years.
Borno has been the epicentre of Nigeria’s Islamist insurgency since it began 17 years ago, and military operations have pushed fighters back significantly from their peak ar
