At least 50 Boko Haram fighters were killed in a raid after civilians were slain by the militant sect in the country's Borno state, the military said Friday.
The military launched a raid on a camp of the insurgents with the backing of aircraft, dealing a heavy blow to Boko Haram fighters, who were surrounded after killing 15 civilians earlier this week, Xinhua reported citing spokesperson of the Nigerian military Sagir Musa.
"Subsequently, the villages have been rescued from the fangs of the insurgents. At the moment, the troops are pursuing the remnants of the fleeing terrorists by blocking all possible exit routes," the spokesperson added.
The civilians were killed by the insurgents in two attacks launched Wednesday and Thursday in Gajiram and Bulablin villages of the northern state.
Boko Haram, based in northeastern Nigeria, seeks to enshrine the Islamic sharia law into the constitution and declares war against the Western education. The Nigerian government tried in April to broker a ceasefire with the sect but failed.