Nigerian military kills 11 militants, including top Boko Haram commander

Nigerian soldiers participate in an operation in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno, March 16, 2016. (Xinhua/Wale Salau)

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.

Boko Haram, an extremist group that originated in Nigeria, launched its armed campaign in 2009 with the aim of opposing Western-style education and enforcing its own hardline interpretation of Islamic law.

The conflict has since expanded to include a faction aligned with the Islamic State group, known as the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).

Violence linked to the insurgency has spread beyond Nigeria into neighbouring countries such as Niger, leaving about 35,000 civilians dead and forcing more than two million people from their homes, according to the United Nations.

Taiwo Adebayo, a Boko Haram researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, said the military initiated a new offensive last month, taking the fight directly to militant hideouts.

He described the move as “a shift away from the largely reactive approach that last year saw the armed forces endure dozens of attacks on their bases.”

Adebayo added that the United States has been flying intelligence and surveillance missions over Borno State since November, providing support that has enabled Nigerian forces to carry out operations against armed groups.

Nigeria continues to face a multifaceted security challenge, marked by the Islamist insurgency in the northeast and a rise in abductions for ransom carried out by armed gangs in the northwest and north-central regions in recent months.

In December, the United States carried out airstrikes in northern Nigeria aimed at Islamic State militants, following accusations that the Nigerian government had not done enough to stop attacks targeting Christians.