The military has not said when the attacks occurred. He added that a Boko Haram commander had also been captured and several militant camps were cleared around the town of Bama, about 70 km southeast of the state capital Maiduguri.
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The Airforce assured that they will continue to give all necessary support to the ground force through their intensified and persistent efforts in the ongoing fight against the insurgents in the North-east until all portions of Nigerian soil is safe and free from the terrorists. “Many” Islamists were killed, the military said, without elaborating.
The Nigerian army has freed 178 people being held hostage by Boko Haram jihadists including more than 100 children, it said late Sunday, as it carries out a regional offensive aimed at rooting out the insurgency.
A local vigilante, Goni Musi, confirmed the death toll.
Malari has been the target of numerous attacks in recent months, including a suicide bombing by a youth in a mosque in the middle of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in July which left 12 people dead. At a meeting in Cameroon in February, Nigeria and a group of neighboring countries that also includes Chad, Cameroon and Niger agreed to deploy around 8,700 troops, with Benin pledging 250.
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The Nigerian Air Force said it had “successfully repelled an attack on Bita village by the Boko Haram terrorist group” in a combined operation with ground troops after spotting militants planning an assault.
