The troops were killed late on Saturday night when their vehicle broke down as they returned from a raid on a Lakurawa group camp outside Illela in Sokoto state.

Lakurawa, which has ties to jihadists in the wider Sahel, established a presence in Kebbi and Sokoto states in northwest Nigeria in 2018 and has become more active since 2023.

Nigeria's military confirmed the attack but did not give an exact toll.

"We incurred regrettable casualties over the weekend around Illela," Lieutenant Colonel Olaniyi Osoba, a military spokesman in the region, told AFP.

"However, immediate tactical reinforcements have been deployed to the general area," he said, adding that operations were ongoing to "track and neutralise the terrorists responsible".

Two local sources separately confirmed that seven troops were killed in the ambush as they carried out repairs to their vehicle.

A resident in Illela also confirmed the death toll and said one soldier escaped.

Neither the local sources nor the resident wanted to be identified for their personal safety.

The troops were in a convoy of three vehicles when one of them developed a mechanical fault, forcing it to stop while the two others moved on, another resident said.

"The Lakurawa killed seven soldiers, including a lieutenant. The bodies were later recovered and brought to Illela," he added, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

The United States launched missile strikes against Lakurawa camps in the Tangaza district of Sokoto state in coordination with the Nigerian authorities on December 25 last year.

Saturday's ambush happened on the same day that the United States and Nigeria said they had killed Abu Bilal al-Manuki, the deputy Islamic State leader, in joint airstrikes on his camps in the Lake Chad region.

Al-Manuki, a Nigerian, was tracked to a hideout in the remote village of Metele near the border with Niger through his satellite phone, a Nigerian intelligence source told AFP.