The Nigerian army said on Friday that it had killed at least 50 jihadists in an operation carried out in response to an attack by the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP) in the northeast of the country, the epicenter of an Islamist insurgency.

Nigerian forces have been fighting the jihadist group Boko Haram and its breakaway branch, ISWAP, since 2009, as they seek to establish a caliphate in the region.

The jihadists were killed on Thursday when the army attempted to repel a coordinated ISWAP attack on the headquarters of the 27th Brigade in the town of Buni Gari and the town's checkpoint, located in Yobe State.

"The assault, launched around 2:00 a.m. by a large number of terrorists coming from several directions, was met with devastating firepower, brilliant military tactics and the unwavering determination of the troops who held their positions and inflicted heavy losses on the attackers," the army said in its statement released Friday.

"No fewer than 50 terrorists were neutralized, while a significant quantity of weapons and ammunition was recovered from the fleeing men," she said, adding that two soldiers were killed during the assault.

Photos published by the army and seen by AFP show bodies, as well as weapons and ammunition.

An intelligence source, who wishes to remain anonymous, confirmed to AFP the attack and the army's response.

"ISWAP attacked soldiers in Buni Gari and Buni Yadi. The fighting was intense. But, frankly, the army has largely underestimated its losses and exaggerated those suffered by the terrorists," she said, without providing figures on human losses.

"The military victims, dead and wounded, were transported to Maiduguri (the capital and largest city of Borno State) in six ambulances. It is not known exactly how many there were," another source from the intelligence community indicated.

Boko Haram and ISWAP have intensified their attacks in recent months, after a period of relative calm.

Since 2019, the army has closed several small bases to regroup its troops in larger, fortified garrisons, called "super camps," intended to better withstand attacks.

But this strategy, according to some experts, has facilitated the movement of armed groups in rural areas.

The jihadist insurgency has left more than 40,000 dead and two million displaced in the northeast of Africa's most populous country, according to the UN.

In recent years it has spread to areas bordering Niger, Cameroon and Chad.

AFP