Nigeria jihadists kill four soldiers in base attack

Machine-gun wielding jihadists killed four Nigerian soldiers and wounded 11 more during an attack on an army base in the northeast, military officials said on Sunday. Fighters from the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) arrived in six trucks to attack the Jakana base, near the city of Maiduguri, on Saturday evening, the officials told AFP.

The troops forced the jihadists to retreat after a prolonged gunfight. In recent weeks, ISWAP, an off-shoot of regional jihadist group Boko Haram, has intensified attacks in the region, targeting soldiers but also mounting fake checkpoints, killing and abducting civilians.

The decade-long insurgency in northeast Nigeria has killed 36,000 people, according to the UN and displaced a further two million. The conflict has spilt into Niger, Cameroon, and Chad -- prompting them to set up a joint military force to combat the threat.

Some 1,200 Chadian soldiers returned to Chad this week after a months-long deployment in Nigeria, sparking panic among residents living near the bases they used. Hundreds of people in the small town of Gajiganna fled to Maiduguri fearing an upsurge in jihadist attacks.