Thirty-two troops have been killed in a clash with Boko Haram fighters on Niger's border with Nigeria, Niger's defence ministry said on Saturday, one of deadliest tolls inflicted by the jihadists, AFP reports.
In neighboring Nigeria, the army meanwhile said it had killed 19 Boko Haram militants in separate fighting in northeast Borno state, while two soldiers suffered gunshot wounds.
In the Niger fighting, "hundreds of assailants" attacked a military post in the town of Bosso on Friday evening, the defence ministry said in a statement that gave a "provisional toll" of 30 Nigerien and two Nigerian soldiers killed and 67 wounded.
"On the enemy's side, several dead and injured were taken away," the ministry said, according to AFP.
"Boko Haram elements effectively took control of the town temporarily, but now they were dislodged," a security source said.
Boko Haram's seven-year insurgency has devastated infrastructure in Nigeria's impoverished northeast region and forced around 2.1 million people in Nigeria to flee their homes, according to the UN's refugee agency.
The unrest has left at least 20,000 people dead in Nigeria and made more than 2.6 million homeless.
In the latest clashes there 19 Boko Haram militants were killed in Borno, according to the military.
Acting upon an intelligence report on the presence of Boko Haram fighters in the militants' Chukungudu camp, Nigerian troops and civilian JTF (joint task force) members launched the attack on Friday.
