An improvised explosive device (IED), suspected to have been planted by Boko Haram terrorists, has killed six soldiers and injured five others in Borno State.
Local and security sources said the incident occurred on Sunday along the Damasak–Kareto road.
One of the sources said those affected were part of a convoy on an operational clearance mission.
The military vehicle ran over the IED, causing it to detonate. The blast killed six soldiers, while five others sustained injuries. The injured have been taken to a hospital for treatment,” he said.
However, a situation report prepared for the United Nations and seen by AFP put the toll from the Sunday blast at nine. It said ISWAP militants “detonated” the device while the soldiers were “stopped at a camp along the Gubio-Damasak Road”.
A spokesman for the Nigerian military’s operations in the northeast did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Another security source explained that the armoured vehicle leading the convoy triggered the planted IED.
“The vehicle was destroyed, and the explosion created a deep crater that obstructed movement,” he added.
He noted that the troops were travelling from Maiduguri to Damasak when the attack took place.
A video circulating on social media shows the aftermath of the incident, with the bodies of soldiers lying on the ground.
Aisami Sheriff, a resident of Damasak, said the area where the incident occurred is a known route used by the terrorists toward the Kanamma and Geidam axis in Yobe State.
“The route has significant economic value for the insurgents, and they would not allow soldiers to block it,” he said.
Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum, recently facilitated the return of refugees who had spent over a decade in Boso, the Niger Republic, back to Damasak.
Damasak, the headquarters of the Mobbar Local Government Area of Borno State, has seen intensified attacks by ISWAP and Boko Haram in recent months.
The insurgents operate from the Lake Chad shores, targeting both military and civilian vehicles and locations in the area.
In recent months, insurgents have continued to intensify IED and suicide attacks across the northeastern states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa.
On 17th December 2025, a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a mosque in Maiduguri, killing five people and wounding 34 others.
On Monday, 5th January 2026, the Borno State Police Command uncovered a hidden cache of 912 rounds of ammunition in the Kumshe Jamba Mari area of Maiduguri, the state capital.
Many residents suspected the bullets were hidden by insurgents for bomb manufacturing.
Earlier, on Saturday, 3rd January 2026, troops of Operation Hadin Kai recovered 1,270 rounds of 12.7mm ammunition warheads, live 12.7mm rounds, and power banks concealed inside a drainage in the Bulumkutu area of Maiduguri.
