Nigerian troops kill 38 Boko Haram militants

Nigeria’s military says it has killed 38 Boko Haram militants in an operation in the northeast of the country.

The Nigerian forces foiled an attack on local residents and a military camp in Damboa in Borno state on Thursday morning and inflicted heavy casualties on the militants, army spokesman Colonel Muhammad Dole said.

“While the encounter lasted, 38 Boko Haram terrorists were killed and some fled with various degrees of injuries,” Dole stated.

He added that one army soldier was killed and two more were wounded during the fighting.

“Combined ground troops and Nigerian Air Force aircraft are tactically pursuing the fleeing terrorists in the ongoing operation in the general area of Damboa and surrounding villages,” Dole added.

Violence has intensified in northeastern Nigeria since President Goodluck Jonathan ordered his security forces in May 2013 to crush Boko Haram’s four-year-old rebellion.

The Nigerian forces have been raiding militant camps and launching air and ground attacks on suspected hideouts of the militants over the past several months.

The military’s anti-insurgency division has been taking part in the operations.

Boko Haram says its aim is to topple the Nigerian government, which it accuses of being pro-Western.

The group has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly gun and bomb attacks in various parts of Nigeria since 2009.

Over the past four years, violence in the north of Africa’s most populous country has claimed the lives of 3,600 people, including killings by security forces.

In May 2013, the Nigerian government imposed a state of emergency in three states in the northeast, saying Boko Haram had become a security threat in those states.

In November, Nigeria’s National Assembly approved a six-month extension for the state of emergency.