Nigerian troops battled scores of Boko Haram fighters outside the northeastern city of Bauchi on Sunday, residents and a military source told AFP.

Soldiers supported by two fighter jets intercepted the militants who were in 20 pick-up trucks at Dungulbe village, seven kilometers (four miles) from the city, and engaged them in fierce fighting.

An explosion in the red light district of northern Nigeria’s Bauchi city has killed 10 people and injured 14 others, police said Saturday.

The cause of the late Friday blast was not immediately clear, but Boko Haram Islamists have attacked Bauchi repeatedly during their five-year uprising aimed at creating a strict Islamic state in the north.