Nigerian President Bola Tinubu confirmed on Tuesday the death of an army brigadier general killed by jihadists in the northeast of the country, praising the sacrifice of the soldier and other soldiers killed in recent attacks.

"As commander-in-chief of the armed forces, I am deeply saddened by the tragic deaths of our soldiers and officers on active duty. May God comfort the families of Brigadier General Musa Uba and the other fallen heroes," Mr. Tinubu said in a statement.

On its Amaq propaganda platform, the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP) indicated on Monday that it had kidnapped Mr. Uba on Saturday, who was in charge of operations against armed groups in the Lake Chad region, after an ambush on Friday against a military convoy and local self-defense groups near the village of Wajirko, in Borno State (northeast).

The jihadist group stated that the brigadier general was wounded in the leg and was trying to flee when he was abducted.

According to the Nigerian army and a United Nations report, the attack on Friday killed two soldiers and two members of a self-defense group.

ISWAP released photos showing Brigadier General Musa Uba sitting on the floor and behind his desk before his abduction.

On Saturday, the Nigerian army denied local reports that the brigadier general had been killed in the ambush, asserting that he had returned to his base.

On Sunday evening, a Nigerian intelligence source told AFP that Mr. Uba had been taken away by sixteen ISWAP fighters and that the "worst-case scenario" was feared.

ISWAP, which broke away from the jihadist group Boko Haram in 2016, is concentrating its attacks against the military in the northeast.

The jihadist insurgency has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced nearly two million in northeastern Nigeria since 2009, and has spread to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Mr. Uba is the second senior officer killed in four years in a jihadist ambush, after General Dzarma Zirkusu, who died in November 2021.