Boko Haram claims deaths of eight Nigerian soldiers

Islamist group Boko Haram said on Saturday it was behind an attack that killed eight soldiers and injured 17 more in northeastern Nigeria.

The group said they had attacked army positions near Gamboru in the Lake Chad area near the border with Cameroon, in a statement translated by the SITE monitoring group.

The group, which calls itself Islamic State's West Africa Province (ISWAP), said they had suffered no casualties in the clash, and promised further attacks.

An army statement Friday confirmed the attack, without mentioning any casualties.

Gamboru residents told AFP on condition of anonymity the Islamists had launched the attacks on Thursday around the bridge straddling the border with Cameroon.

AFP has logged 18 attacks on military bases since July - almost all of them in the ISWAP-controlled region around Lake Chad.

President Muhammadu Buhari vowed on taking office in 2015 to eradicate the jihadists and has said on several occasions that Boko Haram is "technically defeated".

But there has been criticism of the government's security record. Soldiers deployed in the northeast regularly complain they lack arms and supplies against a well-armed opponent making regular incursions.