A military task force from West African countries killed 42 Islamic State fighters in the Lake Chad region on June 21, the force said in a statement.
The Multinational Joint Task Force – which comprises soldiers from Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon – said in a statement issued late on Saturday that it killed the insurgents while fighting on a Lake Chad island called Doron Naira.
The task force comprehensive attack on Islamic State comes one day after the terrorist group had claimed to have killed 12 Nigerian soldiers in Northeast state of Borno.
The attack in the town of Gajiram, in which the insurgents said the barracks were burned, followed a similar assault on a base last week and suicide bombings that killed 30 people on Sunday.
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The attacks raise questions about government assertions to have almost defeated the insurgents.
“Twelve Nigerian soldiers were killed and others injured following an attack by Islamic State fighters on their barracks in the northern Nigerian town of Gajiram,” Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) said in a statement published on the SITE Intelligence website.
