ABUJA, Nigeria

At least seven Nigerian soldiers were killed in an ambush by Boko Haram terrorists in Borno state, reports said Wednesday. 

According to the local press, troops with the 153rd Task Force Battalion in the Marte local government area were caught by surprise when the insurgents attacked them.

An armed clash erupted, during which seven soldiers died and many others were wounded.

The insurgents escaped following the attack, the reports noted.

Boko Haram launched a bloody insurgency in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria but later spread its atrocities to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a military response.

More than 30,000 people have been killed and nearly 3 million displaced in a decade of Boko Haram's terrorist activities in Nigeria, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Violence committed by Boko Haram has affected some 26 million people in the Lake Chad region and displaced 2.6 million others, according to the UN Refugee Agency.

*Writing by Ahmet Gencturk