Troops kill 59 Boko Haram fighters

A screengrab taken on August 24, 2014 from a video released by the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram and obtained by AFP shows alleged members of the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram at an undisclosed location. Picture: BOKO HARAM

A screengrab taken on August 24, 2014 from a video released by the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram and obtained by AFP shows alleged members of the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram at an undisclosed location. Picture: BOKO HARAM

Published Sep 1, 2014

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Lagos -

Nigeria's army killed at least 59 members of Islamist terror group Boko Haram, repelling an attack on a key city in the country's north-east, local newspaper Punch reported on Monday.

About 200 heavily armed insurgents attacked the town of Bama, one of the largest cities of Borno State, a security source was quoted as saying.

Roughly 30 Boko Haram fighters were injured when soldiers repelled the attack.

The clashes come a week after Boko Haram declared a caliphate in the town of Gwoza, about 48 kilometres from Bama.

"There was pandemonium everywhere, as we continued to hear deafening gunshots," a Bama resident said.

The insurgents entered the town in a "convoy of military vehicles and motorcycles, dressed in military uniform and armed with sophisticated weapons and improvised explosive devices," the resident said.

Boko Haram has been in control of Gwoza for several weeks. The military said its attempts to regain control of the town were "ongoing."

Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sinful," has killed more than 3 000 people in Nigeria's north this year alone.

When it first launched attacks in 2009, Boko Haram mainly targeted Christians under the pretext of wanting to establish an Islamic state, but since mid-2013, Boko Haram has focused its attacks on government security agents as well as on civilians of both Christian and Muslim faiths in their homes, markets, hospitals and schools. - Sapa-dpa

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