Boko Haram: 11 killed as Nigerian military launches assault on border communities near Cameroon

Boko Haram members

The military said it also captured a foreign Boko Haram fighter,

The Nigerian military on Thursday said it had launched an attack on some terrorists near the Cameroonian border.

The Director of Defence Information, Chris Olukolade, in a statement said the terrorists, who were cornered while trying to escape to Cameroon through Taraba and Adamawa states, came under fire from troops on patrol of the area in the ongoing counter-terrorism campaign.

Mr. Olukolade said some of the Boko Haram terrorists had come out of hiding when they “could no longer bear the hunger in their make shift camps in the forest.” Those apprehended, he said, led troops to other hideouts where fierce fighting ensued.

Mr. Olukolade said seven terrorists died, while a large number of Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, and rifles were recovered including over seventy motorcycles. He said a similar encounter in Gombi, Adamawa State, led to the death of four other terrorists.

He noted that sustained patrols by the Multi National Joint Task Force, MNJTF, have led to the arrest of more terrorists, including a heavily armed suspect who claimed dual nationalities of Chad and Burkina-Faso.

He said the suspect, currently helping in on-going investigation by the Special Forces, was arrested with different calibre of arms and ammunitions along the Chad borders.

Mr. Olukolade assured that patrols were still on-going around the Lake Chad, Kwatan, Kanwa, Kwatan Yobe and other islands.