ABUJA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian army on Thursday confirmed many Boko Haram fighters were killed in the northeastern town of Damasak following a gunfight with troops.
In a statement, army spokesman Texas Chukwu said the gunfight followed an attack on a military formation by the Boko Haram terror group in the northern state of Borno on Wednesday evening.
The gun battle lasted for many hours, but Chukwu did not give the actual figure of casualties on the Boko Haram's side.
"The troops' aggressive posture, tactics, and marksmanship resulted in neutralizing the many Boko Haram terrorists," he said.
Boko Haram has been trying since 2009 to establish an Islamic state in northeastern Nigeria, in the process killing some 20,000 people and forcing displacement of millions of others.
The resilience of the insurgent Boko Haram group in the Lake Chad Basin since 2009 posed enormous security, humanitarian and governance challenges, according to the United Nations.
Four countries caught up in the insurgency are Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria. The United Nations said the Boko Haram had displaced nearly 2.4 million people in the Lake Chad sub-region.
