Security sources told PREMIUM TIMES that the clashes occurred in the early hours of Thursday, as terrorists engaged security forces in Mafa and suffered heavy losses in Dikwa.

Nigerian security forces and suspected Islamic State West Africa Province's (ISWAP) fighters clashed for hours in Mafa and Dikwa local government areas of Borno State, with both sides suffering losses.

Security sources told PREMIUM TIMES that the clashes occurred in the early hours of Thursday, as the terrorists attacked security forces in Mafa and suffered heavy losses in Dikwa.

There are no details about casualties yet, but sources suspected that some soldiers were killed in Mafa, where the terrorists attacked military positions, looted arms and set commercial trucks on fire.

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Philip Brant, a jihadi expert monitoring violence across the Sahel and the Lake Chad region, said the ISWAP fighters "infiltrated Mafa in daytime and attacked the army positions at night."

"The clashes reportedly lasted for five hours and the soldiers ended up fleeing Mafa, leaving ISWAP to loot and burn the barracks, along with vehicles," he said.

But the terrorists suffered in Dikwa, where soldiers were "supported by the Air Force."

Mr Brant said the terrorists might have carried out the attack in Dikwa to distract the Air Force.

"As soon as the air assets intervened in Dikwa, the attack in Mafa started," said Mr Brant.

The Nigerian Army has not issued a statement about the attack. An enquiry sent to its spokesperson, Apollonia Anele, a lieutenant colonel, has not been responded to.

This clash came barely a week after soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel from Niger State, were killed in the Bama Local Government Area of Borno.