Four Nigerian soldiers were killed and five wounded as troops beat back a coordinated assault by Islamist militants on Ngamdu in northeastern Borno state, the army said on Friday.
Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province have intensified raids on military positions across Borno this year, the epicentre of a conflict that has killed thousands and displaced around 2 million people over more than a decade.
In Thursday night’s attack, militants fired rocket-propelled grenades and deployed armed drones while laying improvised explosive devices against personnel and vehicles, a military spokesperson said.
Reinforcements from the 29 Task Force Brigade helped repel the assault. Several mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles and gun trucks were damaged, the statement added.
Militants also seeded multiple IEDs along the Ngamdu–Damaturu supply route, briefly halting traffic before army engineers cleared three explosive sites and reopened the road to military and civilian movement.
The military said at least 15 attackers were killed.
Insurgents have carried out 333 attacks in northeast Nigeria so far this year, compared with 375 in all of 2024, according to data from conflict monitor ACLED.
The army says recent counterinsurgency operations in Borno aim to dismantle militant networks across the northeast.