Nigeria Army kills 95 Boko Haram fighters

26 Oct AFP

Nigeria's army said it had killed 95 suspected Boko Haram fighters in a raid in northeastern Borno state, as gunmen from the Islamist group battled security forces in a neighbouring area.

The army, which is battling to crush a four-year Islamist uprising in Nigeria, said it deployed bombs and ground troops to destroy insurgent camps in Borno on Thursday. Army spokesman Mohammed Dole said that "74 suspected militants" were killed in the assault outside the Borno capital Maiduguri, where Boko Haram was founded more than a decade ago.

The operation followed an assault Monday on Boko Haram camps in another part of Borno, which the military said left 37 Islamists dead. In a separate outbreak of violence, suspected Islamist fighters stormed the city of Damaturu in coordinated raids on Thursday, burning at least four police buildings, said a senior police officer who requested anonymity.

Army spokesman General Ibrahim Attahiru said in a statement published late Friday that 70 suspected Islamists were killed in Borno state and others fled towardsDamaturu where 25 of them were killed by the army.

"The insurgents fleeing from the earlier clashes .. regrouped to carry out attacks on Damaturu," said the statement. "Our command post ... and other sites around Damaturu were attacked and ... 25 insurgents were killed." The army did not mention any possible civilian casualties. The officer said there were casualties from the attack, which will be seen as a setback in the campaign to end the insurgency. The military had claimed an offensive launched more than four months ago had put Boko Haram on the defensive and left it incapable of attacking major urban centres like Damaturu.

Figures released earlier this year said the conflict had cost more than 3,600 lives, including killings by the security forces. The current toll is certainly much higher.