Jihadists seize military base in Nigeria

KANO, Nigeria: Jihadists aligned with the Islamic State militant group have captured a military base in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state after overnight clashes with troops, sources told AFP on Saturday.

Machine-gun wielding fighters from Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) attacked the base in the town of Marte in the Lake Chad area overnight Friday into Saturday, two sources said. "The priority now is to reclaim the base from the terrorists and an operation is under way," one of the sources said.

"We took a hit from ISWAP terrorists. They raided the base in Marte after a fierce battle."

The second 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.

ISWAP, which split from Boko Haram in 2016, maintains camps on islands in Lake Chad -- where Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad meet -- and the area is known to be group’s bastion.