Nigerian troops have ousted Boko Haram from a north-eastern town while Cameroon soldiers killed several of the extremists in an attack on a Nigerian village.
Military officials reported yesterday on the latest successes in a multinational bid to curb the Islamic uprising in north-east Nigeria.
"FLASH: Nigerian troops have this afternoon routed terrorists from Bama ... Mopping up operation is ongoing," the Nigerian defence headquarters announced on Twitter referring to a town held by the insurgents for more than six months.
An earlier tweet yesterday said they had "completed clearing terrorists out of Goniri" in neighbouring Yobe state.
By last week, the regional offensive that began at the end of January had liberated 36 towns, Mike Omeri, the Nigerian government spokesman on the insurgency, said.
Cameroon Colonel Jacob Kodji said forces from his country attacked Boko Haram militants from Borno state's Ndaba village on Thursday and Friday, killing several of the extremists and destroying some of their vehicles and ammunition.
The Cameroonians acted after Ndaba residents reported that Boko Haram militants were massing in the hills around the village, 12 miles from the border with Cameroon, he said.
The militants were believed to have been fleeing from Nigerian air raids on Bama, he said.
Boko Haram seized Bama in September and in December published a video showing gunmen mowing down civilians lying face down in what looks like a school dormitory there. A leader said they were being killed because they were "infidels" or non-believers.
Boko Haram this month joined the Islamic State group in the Middle East, which last week urged fighters to go to its "West Africa Province".
This has increased fears about the internationalisation of a conflict that for nearly six years has been largely limited to north-east Nigeria.
Some 10,000 people were killed in Nigeria' Islamic uprising last year, according to the US-based Council on Foreign Relations.
Boko Haram was little known outside the region until its abduction last April of more than 200 schoolgirls who remain missing.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article