Sixteen soldiers were killed and nine wounded when hundreds of Boko Haram terror group members attacked a military post in southern Niger overnight, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

The attack was in the commune of Bosso, the Diffa region bordering Nigeria, where Boko Haram is active along with the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a branch of the Daesh terror group.

Niger’s Defense Ministry said government forces sustained substantial losses when the outpost was ambushed.

Government troops killed about 50 terrorists and several weapons were seized, it said.

Boko Haram and ISWAP have operated in the volatile region for years, carrying out attacks against civilians and the military.

The government has been battling a Boko Haram insurgency since 2009, which has spilled into neighboring countries.

The Diffa region has experienced several attacks since 2015.

An attack by suspected Boko Haram in Niger last year killed 28 people and burned 800 homes.

About 36,000 have died since the group launched its terror campaign, displacing 2 million in Nigeria, according to the UN./aa