Nigeria: Boko Haram terrorists down helicopter, kill 5

By Adam Abu-bashal

ABUJA, Nigeria (AA) - Multiple people were reportedly killed in northeastern Nigeria Wednesday when Boko Haram terrorists targeted a helicopter.

According to local reports, members of the Boko Haram terrorist group downed a helicopter in Bama region of Borno state, killing five civilians.

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 violence in Nigeria, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, violence by Boko Haram has affected 26 million people in the Lake Chad region and displaced 2.6 million others.

* Writing by Ali Murat Alhas