ABUJA, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- A top commander of the Boko Haram terror group and 10 other terrorists were killed during a night raid in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno, which has long been plagued by insurgency, the military said in a statement on Sunday.
The Boko Haram commander, identified as Abu Khalid, was the second-in-command of the terror group at the Sambisa Forest and "a key figure within the terrorist hierarchy, coordinating operations and logistics in the Sambisa axis," according to the statement.
It said "the successful engagement" on Saturday night by troops resulted in the recovery of five AK-47 rifles, magazines, bicycles, assorted logistics and food items, as well as medical consumables.
There was no casualty recorded among the troops during the operation, the statement said, adding that the troops' morale remains high as clearance operations continue across the Sambisa Forest, Mandara Mountains, Timbuktu Triangle and other known hideouts of Boko Haram and its sister group, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), in Nigeria's northern region.
Boko Haram and ISWAP have been collaborating in an attempt to establish an Islamist state in northeast Nigeria. The terror groups have also extended their attacks to other countries in the Lake Chad Basin. ■
