LAGOS, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian troops had successfully repelled an attack on a military patrol team coordinated by suspected Boko Haram insurgents at Sasawa community in northeast Yobe, the country's Army said Sunday.
The troops repelled an ambush by the insurgents and killed many of them in gun battles, Brig.-Gen. Texas Chukwu, the Army spokesperson, said in a statement reaching Xinhua.
Chukwu said that reports indicated that the insurgents, whose original plan was to attack and loot Babbangida market, aborted the mission and laid ambush for the troops on patrol.
According to him, the troops recorded some casualties but that the situation was under control.
The army spokesman added that additional men had been deployed to reinforce the patrol troops, while the Air Task Force was on aerial surveillance to track the fleeing terrorists.
Boko Haram has been blamed for the death of more than 20,000 people and displacement of 2.3 million others in Nigeria since 2009.
