Residents and reports claim that troops flee when insurgents storm a Nigerian military camp in Banki

Residents and security officials reported Friday that suspected rebels stormed a border town in Borno state, northeastern Nigeria, and took weapons from a military barracks while the soldiers there escaped.

The incident took place in the Bama district’s town of Banki.

This year, insurgents in the region have increased their attacks on security personnel and civilians.

The attack began at around 2130 GMT on Thursday and finished in the early hours of Friday, according to an internal security brief from the Civilian Joint Task Force, a paramilitary group that assists the military in combating Islamist fighters.

“After taking control of the town, the rebels broke into the military barracks and took weapons and ammunition. According to the memo seen by Reuters, the soldiers and the commanding officer reportedly fled towards Cameroon, abandoning people behind.

According to a soldier from the town’s 152 Battalion, the militants arrived in force, and after intense gunfire, security troops were forced to flee.

A request for comment from the Nigerian Army was not answered.

Banki was taken over by Boko Haram ten years ago, and it is one of several towns in northeastern Nigeria that have been subjected to frequent attacks by both the group and fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province, resulting in a humanitarian crisis.

In an effort to break up these networks in the area, Nigeria’s military claims to have conducted counterinsurgency operations in Borno state in recent months.

A local of Banki named Aliyu Haruna reported seeing at least seven dead bodies in the town on Friday, including three soldiers. The number of deaths could not be independently verified by Reuters.

Haruna told Reuters over the phone that “both military and paramilitary personnel fled to Cameroon, and it was only this morning that they returned.”