ABUJA, Dec 2 (NNN-NAN) – At least 11 extremist militants were killed, in operations by the Nigerian government forces, in the country’s north-eastern region, in the past two weeks, a military spokesperson said, yesterday.
Musa Danmadami, a spokesman for the military, said in a statement that, scores of the Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) groups, also escaped with gunshot wounds, during the various clearance operations, conducted by the government troops, in the north-eastern states of Borno and Yobe, between Nov 17 and Dec 1 (yesterday).
The military operations also brought about the successful rescue of 10 kidnapped victims, from the dens of the extremist militants, as well as, the nabbing of at least 47 gunmen and their collaborators, Danmadami said.
During one of such ambushes and raids, a notorious Boko Haram/ISWAP logistic supplier was arrested by government troops, on Nov 20, at a military checkpoint, in the Bama Local Government Area of the northern state of Borno, the official said.
He said, a total of 139 members of the families of Boko Haram and ISWAP groups, comprising 27 adult males, 44 adult females, and 68 children, surrendered to government troops, at different locations in the north-eastern region of the country, within the period under review.
The ISWAP has been collaborating with its sister group, Boko Haram, to establish an Islamist state in north-eastern Nigeria. The groups have also extended their attacks to other countries in the Lake Chad Basin.– NNN-NAN