Troops of the Nigerian Army have reportedly killed 48 suspected Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province fighters while repelling coordinated attacks on military installations in Borno and Yobe states.
The attacks targeted military positions in Bitta, Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State, and the North East Theatre Training School in Buni Yadi, Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State.
The military disclosed this in a statement posted on the Nigerian Army’s X account on Friday.
The Acting Media Information Officer of the Joint Task Force, North East, Operation Hadin Kai, Captain Mohammed Goni, said the encounters occurred between October 29 and 30, 2026.
According to Goni, troops repelled an attempted attack on their position in Bitta on the night of October 29, with support from air assets.
He said the combined ground and air operations inflicted heavy casualties on the attackers, forcing them to abandon their mission.
In a separate engagement, troops also confronted a large group of ISWAP fighters who attacked the North East Theatre Training School in Buni Yadi from the evening of October 29 into the early hours of Friday.
Goni said the confrontation lasted about five hours, with troops deploying intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance systems alongside coordinated air and ground operations.
He stated that the military recovered a substantial cache of weapons and ammunition following the engagements.
The recovered items included 42 AK-47 rifles, five PKT machine guns, four general-purpose machine guns, one 60mm mortar, 105 AK-47 magazines, two video cameras and thousands of rounds of ammunition of different calibres.
However, the military confirmed that one soldier was killed during the operations, while two others sustained minor injuries and are receiving medical attention.
It added that the morale of troops remained high despite the casualties.
The military described the successful repulsion of the attacks as a major setback for the terrorist groups, saying their operational capacity in the North-East theatre had been significantly weakened.
