Portsmouth soldiers teach Nigerian Army how to defeat brutal terror group Boko HaramÂ

Men from the Second Battalion, The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (2PWRR) are working to train Nigerians on how to fight the Islamist extremist group.

The regiment, which recruits from Portsmouth and the rest of the south east, will have a team based in the African country for the next five months as part of the deployment.

As part of their training role, they are teaching the Nigerian military how to deal with improvised explosive devices '“ IEDs '“ as well as combat first aid and tactics.

Major Jonny Lanham, officer commanding C Company 2 PWRR said: '˜It's a great opportunity for the troops to come out here to help train and assist the Nigerian soldiers and hopefully we can help them make a difference'

In the coming months the PWRR soldiers are expecting to expand their role, with the prospect of training more than 4,000 soldiers at the Nigerian initial training camp in the centre of the country.

The battalion is currently based in Cottesmore in Rutland but will move to Aldershot in 2019 as part of the newly formed Specialised Infantry Group. This role sees them focusing on training, advising and assisting foreign armies across the globe in order to improve their capability and prevent conflicts escalating.

Portsmouth lad Corporal Drew Bincham said: '˜The Nigerians are very keen to learn and I am enjoying teaching them things that could potentially save their lives in the future.'

The team was visited by Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt, who has praised their efforts.

The international development secretary said their work was crucial to defeating international terrorism.

Speaking to The News from Nigeria, she said: '˜They are doing an amazing job and I'm extremely proud that our local regiment and so many people from our city are helping take fight to Boko Haram.

'˜By making the north east more secure they will help stave off a humanitarian crisis, enable food and livelihood security and erode a global extremist movement that has links to terror plots back in the UK.'

Since Boko Haram launched its insurgency in the northeast region of the country nine years ago, at least 2,295 teachers have been killed and more than 1,400 schools have been destroyed.

They have also abducted more than 1,000 children since 2013 the United Nations' children's agency said earlier this year.