Dozens of soldiers killed in Nigeria attack

ABUJA - Dozens of soldiers were killed in an attack suspected to be a perpetration of Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria's state of Borno, local media reported on Sunday, citing top ranking security sources.

The soldiers were caught unawares as the terrorists stormed the Multinational Joint Task Force base in the border town of Baga in Kukawa in the restive Borno State on Saturday, the security sources said.

"We had a very ugly development in Baga on Saturday morning, when the Boko Haram insurgents went and dislodged the Multinational Joint Task Force there. All we know for now that it was a bad outing for the soldiers, because the base was practically dislodged, but one cannot say specifically the extent of damage caused on the base and the personnel for now," a senior security officer, who pleaded for anonymity, told the local Leadership Newspaper.

According to the local newspaper, the attack on that multinational security base was being handled with top secrecy by the military authorities in the countries that constitute the Multinational Joint Task Force.

The Multinational Joint Task Force is the major military deployment that has been frustrating the activities of terrorists in Baga, a fishing community that particularly shares border with Chad Republic.

In the past two years, Baga has suffered several attacks in which the Boko Haram terrorists killed residents of the area, mostly fishermen. In November last year, suspected Boko Haram members allegedly ambushed and slit the throats of at least 48 fishermen during an attack.