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Cameroon arrests three Boko Haram suspects carrying explosives

Some hostages report having been held captive by the Islamic extremist group for nearly a year, according to Associated Press.

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A female suicide bomber killed six people Friday at a market in Maiduguri, the largest city in northeast Nigeria.

Cameroon has deported more than 2,000 Nigerians who were living in the country illegally as part of new security measures intended to prevent suicide attacks by Boko Haram jihadists, sources said.

Boko Haram took over Yadin Kukuwa Tasha and its surrounding areas for almost two months earlier this year until the army pushed the militants out in March.

Buhari transferred the headquarters of military operations against Boko Haram to Maiduguri from the capital Abuja, outside the main northeastern conflict zone, shortly after his inauguration.

On a positive note, Nigerian soldiers rescued 71 civilians, mostly women and girls, kidnapped by Boko Haram.

Following recent summits on the Boko Haram insurgency, however, the Lake Chad Basin Commission comprising Nigeria, Niger Chad, Cameroon and Benin agreed to strengthen the regional force with at least 8,700 troops.

“I was head of a military that lacked the relevant equipment and motivation to fight an enemy that was invisible and embedded with the local populace”, Badeh said.

Usman says those rescued would be medically examined and rehabilitated before being integrated into society or released to their families. More than 200 of the girls are still missing.

Adesina said the president also stated that with the Command and Control Centre of the Nigerian military now in Maiduguri, Borno State Capital, the morale of troops in the front-line states had improved significantly.

Fifty-nine people, all women and children except for five elderly men, were freed Thursday, Col. I.T. Gusau said.

While the meeting appeared to soothe tensions between the two neighbours, analysts said the outcome was disappointingly vague about specifics for military cooperation.

“This has affected some of the principal staff officers at the Defense and Army headquarters as well as some of the general officers commanding the division and other key appointments in the Nigerian army”, he said.

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But the extremists continue to launch suicide bombings and attacks from remote villages.

Nigerian soldiers rescue 71 children, women from Boko Haram