Boko Haram: 3 Nigerian soldiers die in gun battle with terrorists

Three soldiers attached to Sector 3, Operation Lafiya Dole, were killed during a gun battle with Boko Haram fighters on Friday, August 30, 2019.

Eight soldiers were also injured in the battle which kicked off when troops, attached to Super Camp Monguno, confronted the terrorists while on patrol along the Monguno-Mairari-Gajiram axis in Borno State.

Even though the Army said in an official statement that troops killed many of the terrorists, it failed to give a definite number.

"The patrol team came in contact with the terrorists and engaged them with heavy volume of fire that neutralized countless number while a few escaped with gun shot wounds going by blood trails in the general area.

"The gallant troops also recovered some weapons and equipment from the terrorists," the statement read.

The wounded soldiers are all reported to be in stable condition while troops continue to comb the general area in search of hiding terrorists.

Since Boko Haram's insurgency escalated in 2009, the terrorist group has killed around 30,000 people and displaced millions in the northeast region, with its operations also extending to border countries like Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Even though the powers of the Abubakar Shekau-led main faction of Boko Haram has been on the wane in the past couple of years, another faction, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), has grown in influence and carried out several brutal attacks.

However, despite ISWAP's attacks on military troops and bases over the past year, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has insisted that the group has been degraded, and limited to only attacking "soft targets".