The attack in Dikwa town in Bornu State also claimed the lives of a soldier and a member of a local vigilante group, the Nigerian military said in a statement.

“The troops recovered 26 bodies of the Boko Haram terrorists, while others escaped with gunshot wounds,” the statement said.

Four residents of the camp, three soldiers and numerous insurgents were injured, many of them critically.

Nigeria-based Boko Haram, which seeks to implement its own radical version of Islam, has killed thousands in north-eastern Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad since 2009.

DPA