Eight Nigerian soldiers have been killed after their patrol vehicle struck a landmine allegedly planted by Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) jihadists near the border with Cameroon in Borno State.

The soldiers died on Saturday when the vehicle ran over the explosive along a highway near Kinuba village, about 25 kilometres from Gamboru, according to defence sources who spoke to AFP on Sunday.

The attack occurred on the same day the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, visited Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, following an earlier assault on a military base that left 15 soldiers and five members of an anti-jihadist militia dead.

A military officer in the region said the troops were inspecting militia members clearing thick vegetation along the highway when the explosion occurred.

“All eight soldiers in the vehicle were killed in the explosion,” the officer said.

Ibrahim Liman, a member of the anti-jihadist militia supporting military operations against insurgents, also confirmed the death toll.

“The explosive was planted on the dusty road and remotely detonated by a detonating cord,” Liman said.

He added that a militia member supervising the vegetation-clearing operation sustained injuries from shrapnel during the explosion.

The sources attributed the attack to ISWAP, an armed group affiliated with the Islamic State that operates in the area.

Jihadists frequently use thick vegetation along highways as cover to launch ambushes against security personnel and motorists.

ISWAP and its rival, Boko Haram, have increasingly deployed landmines against military personnel and civilian targets along roads in Nigeria’s northeast.

Although jihadist violence, which began in Nigeria in 2009, has declined from its peak about a decade ago, attacks have increased over the past two years.

The prolonged insurgency has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced approximately two million others from their homes across northeastern Nigeria.

The violence has also spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting the establishment of a regional military coalition to combat the insurgents. (LEADERSHIP, but headline rejigged)