Nigeria military says 29 Islamists killed in two battles

[YahooNews]

Nigerian troops have killed 29 suspected Islamist militants in two days of fighting in the northeast, where President Goodluck Jonathan's forces are trying to stamp out Boko Haram's four-year-old insurgency, the military said on Saturday. A raid late on Friday targeted a Boko Haram base in the town of Bita in the Gwoza hills along the Cameroonian border, where the Islamists have set up camp after being pushed out of semi-desert areas further north. "During the encounter, 20 Boko Haram terrorists were killed, scores of vehicles and 50 motorcycles were destroyed. A soldier was killed and three other soldiers were wounded in the operation," said Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Dole, a spokesman for Nigerian forces in the northeasterly Borno state.