There are still no independently corroborated figures but huge numbers of people are said to have been killed in Baga, on the shores of Lake Chad in the far north of Borno state.
Nigerian military spokesman Chris Olukolade said: "The attack on the town by the bloodhounds should convince people all over the world that Boko Haram is an evil that all must collaborate to end instead of vilifying those working to check them."
Nigeria's army - west Africa's biggest - has faced repeated criticism for failing to end the six-year Islamic insurgency..
Soldiers have complained of a lack of adequate weapons and other equipment and have even refused to deploy to take on the better-armed rebels, who want to create a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria.
With elections set for next month, Nigeria's government has been accused of playing politics with the insurgency: most of the areas worst affected are strongholds of opposition political parties.
"The Nigerian military has not given up on Baga and other localities where terrorist activities are now prevalent.
"Plans, men and resources are being mobilised to address the situation," Olukolade said on website defenceinfo.mil.ng.
On Saturday, two explosions rocked northeastern Nigeria, one at a crowded market in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, detonated by a girl suicide bomber thought to be only 10. Nineteen people were killed.
The Baga attack, which local officials said sent at least 20000 people fleeing, also overran the headquarters of the Multinational Joint Task Force made up of troops from Nigeria, Niger and Chad. The Niger and Chad soldiers were not at the base at the time. The Nigerian soldiers fled.
Olukolade said 14 soldiers were killed and more than 30 injured.
Boko Haram has seized dozens of towns and villages in northeastern Nigeria in the past six months and now reportedly controls the areas of Borno state that border Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
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