Fighters from Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) on Friday used explosives and guns to attack a column of more than 30 troops on foot patrol outside the town of Damask near the border with Niger, the sources said.
"We lost nine soldiers in an ambush by ISWAP terrorists and many others are still missing," a military officer said.
The soldiers, who were 25 kilometres (15 miles) from their base, dispersed in all directions following sustained gunfire from the jihadists, said the officer who asked not to be identified.
"The terrorists detonated an explosive device they had planted on the road in advance, increasing the casualties and confusion among the soldiers," he said.
Eight soldiers managed to return to base while the rest remain missing, including their commander with the rank of a major, the officer said.
"A man who identified himself as an ISWAP terrorist keeps answering the call to the commander's mobile phone, suggesting he is in the hands of the terrorists," he added.
Ya-Mulam Kadai, a spokesman for government-funded anti-jihadist militia assisting the military in Damask, gave the same casualty toll.
The nine bodies of the slain soldiers were recovered by a military search team deployed at the scene of the attack, he said.
The military did not respond to AFP's request for comment.
The Nigerian military has in recent weeks intensified ground operations against ISWAP, particularly in its Sambisa forest stronghold, with the military making regular claims of killing huge numbers of jihadist fighters.
ISWAP and rival Boko Haram factions have been attacking military targets, raiding bases, laying ambush and planting explosives against patrols on highways.
Nigeria's insurgency has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million in the northeast since it erupted in 2009, according to the United Nations.
The conflict has spilled into neighbouring Niger, Cameroon and Chad, leading the region to launch a military coalition to fight the jihadist groups.
US intensifies strikes in Somalia following Nigeria bombardment
Abuja (AFP) Jan 27, 2026 -
The United States has picked up the pace of its air strikes against Al-Shabaab and Islamic State in Somalia this year, according to US Africa Command data.
The United States has long been involved in the Horn of Africa country and has been targeting Al-Shabaab and Islamic State militants since the mid-2000s after the former first emerged.
Since January 1, the United States has conducted 23 strikes in Somalia, Africom spokeswoman Major Mahalia Frost told AFP.
The "uptick" since the New Year, Frost said, is related to a broader US push against Islamic State-linked militants on the continent which included Christmas Day strikes in Nigeria.
In the last year, "we've gotten a lot more aggressive and (are) working with partners to target, kinetically, the threats, mainly ISIS," Africom Lieutenant General John Brennan told AFP last week on the sidelines of a US-Nigeria security meeting in the Nigerian capital.
Following the Nigeria strikes on what Washington and Abuja said were targets linked to Islamic State Sahel Province, the Pentagon has pledged increased intelligence sharing with their Nigerian counterparts.
"From Somalia to Nigeria, the problem set is connected. So we're trying to take it apart and then provide partners with the information they need," Brennan said.
"It's been about more enabling partners and then providing them equipment and capabilities with less restrictions so that they can be more successful."
Frost added that 23 bombardments in Somalia this year "also includes strikes against al Shabaab."
- Increased strikes under Trump -
President Donald Trump sharply escalated US strikes in Somalia during his first term, ordering 219 strikes and ground operations over four years -- compared to 48 by Barack Obama in eight years -- according to a tally from US think tank New America.
Trump has ordered at least 143 so far in his second term, according to New America's tally.
The US strikes in Nigeria came as the country has also been embroiled in a diplomatic spat with Washington, after Trump last year alleged the violence in the west African country amounted to the "genocide" or persecution of Christians.
Independent analysts and the Nigerian government reject that framing of the country's overlapping, myriad conflicts -- though it has long been used by the US religious right that makes up part of Trump's base.
Both the US and Nigerian militaries now seem keen on the increased collaboration, even if diplomats continue to clash.
Somalia too has come under fire diplomatically with the United States recently pausing humanitarian aid there.
Earlier this month Somalia announced that senior Al-Shabaab militant Abdullahi Osman Mohamed Abukar had been killed in a joint US operation.
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