Nigeria, Oct. 23 -- Nigerian security forces and suspected Islamic State West Africa Province's (ISWAP) fighters clashed for hours in Mafa and Dikwa local government areas of Borno State, with both sides suffering losses.

Security sources told PREMIUM TIMES that the clashes occurred in the early hours of Thursday, as the terrorists attacked security forces in Mafa and suffered heavy losses in Dikwa.

There are no details about casualties yet, but sources suspected that some soldiers were killed in Mafa, where the terrorists attacked military positions, looted arms and set commercial trucks on fire.

Philip Brant, a jihadi expert monitoring violence across the Sahel and the Lake Chad region, said the ISWAP fighters "infiltrated Mafa in da...