BREAKING: BOKO HARAM TERRORISTS OVERRUN SOLDIERS, SEIZE MILITARY BASE IN FIRE BACK ATTACK
Boko Haram Insurgents have successfully seized a military base in Borno State, northeastern part of Nigeria after overnight clashes with soldiers which was seen as a retaliation.
Scores of machine-gun wielding fighters from the ISIS-affiliated Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) stormed the military base at Marte, a town in Lake Chad area overnight Friday into Saturday, two sources said.
The Jihadists overran the base after intense fire exchange with the soldiers before they were forced out.
The Insurgents had earlier attacked the military base last week but were repelled by military forces which prompted them to mobilize more fighters to the base in the overnight raid.
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A source in the military said efforts are being made to reclaim the base from the terrorists.
“We took a hit from ISWAP terrorists. They raided the base in Marte after a fierce battle.”
Another 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 recently dealt decisively with ISWAP as it overran the terrorists' second largest camp in Talala village.
ISWAP has since targeted dozens of military bases in attacks that saw the jihadists kill scores of soldiers.
The dreaded group have their group bastion on the island in Lake Chad where Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad meet.
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More than 30,000 people have been killed and nearly 3 million displaced in a decade of Boko Haram's terrorist activities in Nigeria, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, violence committed by Boko Haram has affected over 26 million people in the Lake Chad region and displaced 2.6 million persons.
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