Gunmen from the Islamic State West Africa Province, the
IS-linked faction of Boko Haram, attacked the base in Nigeria’s northeastern
Borno state on Friday.
“We have recovered five bodies of soldiers who paid the
supreme price fighting the terrorists,” a military officer told AFP, giving the
first reports of casualty numbers.
“Search and rescue teams are still looking for around 30
more soldiers who have gone missing since the attack,” the officer added.
ISWAP fighters on Friday launched an assault on the base at
Mararrabar Kimba, 135 kilometres (85 miles) from the state capital Maiduguri.
The fighters, reportedly driving over a dozen pickup trucks
with heavy machine guns welded onto the back, were accompanied by three
armoured personnel carriers and flanked by a fleet of gunmen firing from
motorbikes.
Some soldiers scattered into the bush to escape.
A second officer confirmed the toll of five dead.
“There are high hopes the missing soldiers will be found —
or will find their way back,” he added. “We are not thinking of the worst
scenario.”
There was no immediate official response from the army.
The decade-long jihadist conflict has killed tens of
thousands of people and forced millions from their homes.
The violence has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and
Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition against the jihadists.
In recent weeks, coalition forces involving Nigeria, Chad
and Cameroon have been pounding insurgent hideouts in the Lake Chad areas with
airstrikes, as well as launching ground assaults.
The ISWAP faction split from the main Boko Haram group in
2016, but there are reports the two groups might be merging back together.
Nigerian army chief Lieutenant-General Tukur Buratai last
week warned of an ISWAP-Boko Haram alliance to carve out a jihadist enclave
stretching from Nigeria’s northeast into the wider Lake Chad region.
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