Nigerian troops kill 33 Boko Haram terrorists

ABUJA, Nigeria

Nigerian special forces eliminated 33 Boko Haram fighters in clashes in the country’s northeastern Borno state, local reports said Tuesday.

The terrorists were killed during clashes in the Chikingudu region, according to the reports. Many other terrorists fled the scene and the army confiscated a significant amount of ammunition.

Two soldiers also lost their lives and seven others were wounded.

Boko Haram launched a bloody insurgency in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria but later spread its atrocities to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a military response.

More than 30,000 people have been killed and nearly 3 million displaced in a decade of Boko Haram's terrorist activities in Nigeria, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Violence committed by Boko Haram has affected some 26 million people in the Lake Chad region and displaced 2.6 million others, according to the UN Refugee Agency.

*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas