MAIDUGURI, Nigeria: A military official says 18 people have been killed during days of fighting in northeast Nigeria pitting soldiers against suspected rebels with the radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram.

Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, a military spokesman, said Friday that the fighting erupted in the Sambisa Game Reserve in Borno state, a rural region in Nigeria's restive northeast. Musa said soldiers killed 17 "Boko Haram terrorists" in the conflict, while one soldier was killed.

Musa said the area was a training camp for Boko Haram, which has killed hundreds in its fight against Nigeria's weak central government.

An Associated Press reporter could not immediately reach local officials Friday about the fighting. Nigeria's military and security forces have been accused of killing civilians in its crackdown against the sect.