150 Islamists Killed In Borno Raid – Army

[Shola Sholaz]

A military strike on a Boko Haram camp in Nigeria's restive northeast last week killed 150 Islamists and 16 soldiers, an army spokesman said Wednesday.
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The army's claim of a major offensive against the Islamist insurgents on September 12 came after local media reported that Boko Haram had ambushed a group of soldiers in the same area, killing 40 and leaving dozens of others missing.
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Military officials were not available to comment on the reported Boko Haram ambush, speaking only about the purported military strike.
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Details of last week's military operation had not been previously made public.
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"It was a highly fortified insurgent camp with heavy weapons in (northeastern) Borno State," army spokesman Ibrahim Attahiru said, adding that the camp was in the Kasiya forest.
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"The army raided the camp on September 12.
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Some 150 Boko Haram terrorists were killed, while the military lost 16 soldiers. Nine soldiers are still missing," he told AFP.
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Borno was placed under a state of emergency in mid- May, when the military shut down the mobile phone network to block Islamists from coordinating attacks amid an operation aimed at crushing the insurgency.
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With the communication network switched off, details of attacks have been slow to emerge and difficult to verify.