Nigeria’s military says it has destroyed 10 Boko Haram camps, killed
many militants and captured heavy weaponry in the northeastern Sambisa
Forest.
This comes after a surge in attacks by the Islamic extremists
including suicide bombings, assaults on a business school and villages
and a repelled night-time raid by hundreds of fighters on the biggest
military base in northeast Nigeria.
One soldier was killed by a land mine and two were wounded when
troops overran 10 Boko Haram camps on Saturday, said the Defence
Ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, in a statement Sunday
night.
Olukolade and other Nigerian officials had said Boko Haram’s main
fighting force was trapped in the vast Sambisa Forest following a
14-week multinational offensive that drove them out of dozens of towns
and villages where they had declared an Islamic caliphate.post by expdonaloaded.blogspot.com..But some must have escaped to press last week’s attack on Giwa
Barracks in Maiduguri, the biggest northeastern city about 200
kilometres (125 miles) from the forest...The forest offensive had destroyed some 20 other camps, according to
the military, before getting bogged down by land mines and other booby
traps laid by the insurgents, soldiers told The Associated Press. They
insisted on anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to
reporters.
“The operation to clear the terrorists in Sambisa and other forests
is continuing as troops in all fronts have been alerted to be on the
lookout for fleeing terrorists,” Olukolade said. “The Nigerian Air force
is maintaining an active air surveillance to track the movement of
terrorists for appropriate action.”
The ground offensive, backed by bombing by jet fighters and covering
fire from attack helicopters, had allowed the military to free some 700
girls and women captives. There has been no word on the fate of boys and
young men kidnapped by Boko Haram.
The Defence Ministry has made no comment about the latest Boko Haram
surge, which killed at least 60 civilians in the past 10 days, half of
them villagers who died in army shelling to repulse the Maiduguri
attack.
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