{"id":29193,"date":"2026-03-19T07:58:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T05:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=29193"},"modified":"2026-03-19T07:58:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T05:58:02","slug":"at-least-80-insurgents-killed-as-nigerian-troops-repel-base-assault-military","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/at-least-80-insurgents-killed-as-nigerian-troops-repel-base-assault-military\/","title":{"rendered":"At least 80 insurgents killed as Nigerian troops repel base assault: Military"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Nigerian troops backed by air support repelled a co-ordinated assault by Islamist insurgents on \u200ba military base in the northeastern state of Borno, \u200ckilling at least 80 fighters including Senior commanders, the army said on Wednesday.<\/div>\n<div>\nBoko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters have intensified \u200battacks on military bases in recent weeks in Borno, the \u200bepicentre of Nigeria&#8217;s 17-year Islamist insurgency.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Wednesday&#8217;s assault followed multiple \u2060suicide bombings on Monday in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, \u200bthat killed at least 23 and left more than 100 \u200bwounded. The attacks on the northeast&#8217;s most heavily defended city suggested that the Islamic militant groups have shifted tactics to counter intense government operations against \u200bthem.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The pre-dawn attack targeted an army position in Mallam \u200bFatori near the border with neighbouring Niger, with insurgents advancing on foot \u200cand \u2060deploying armed drones, military task force spokesperson Sani Uba said in a statement.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Troops had anticipated the assault and mounted what Uba described as an &#8220;offensive-defensive&#8221; response, beating back the attack with ground \u200bfire and \u200bair support.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Nigeria&#8217;s air \u2060force carried out precision strikes, while allied Nigerien jets hit retreating insurgents. Four soldiers were \u200bwounded and evacuated for treatment, Uba said, adding \u200bthat \u2060airstrike damage assessments were ongoing.<\/div>\n<div>The military said three &#8220;high-profile&#8221; insurgent commanders were killed, though <i>Reuters<\/i>\u00a0could not independently verify the claims.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Troops also \u2060recovered \u200ba large cache of weapons, including \u200bassault rifles, Rocket-Propelled Grenades\u00a0launchers, machine guns, ammunition, improvised explosive devices, and armed-drone components, \u200bUba said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14609,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-29193","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Wednesday's assault followed multiple \u2060suicide bombings on Monday in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno.","published_date":"","news_description":"Wednesday's assault followed multiple \u2060suicide bombings on Monday in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29194,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29193\/revisions\/29194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=29193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}