LAGOS: At least 42 Boko Haram insurgents have been killed in a clash with military forces in a failed attack in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state, a security source said on Saturday.

The insurgents on motorcycles and one Hilux vehicle attacked Sabon Gari, near Biu, 189 km from state capital Maiduguri, on Friday morning but were repelled by military troops who have been on ground before the insurgents arrived, the source told Xinhua.

“Our men were mobilised to Sabon Gari to repel the attack with support from the youth vigilante in the area and we dealt with them well,” a military officer in Maiduguri who did not want his name in print said.

Audu Uba, a youth vigilante in Biu also confirmed the incident, adding that the military troops in the area pursued the fleeing insurgents up to a nearby village where they were intercepted and killed.

Sabon Gari has witnessed two attacks in the past. In mid-May, Boko Haram attacked the remote community nearly a month after the first attack, killing at least 12 people. The attack forced over a thousand residents to flee the area. (IANS)