Nigerian troops kill 8 senior Boko Haram members

By Adam Abu-bashal

ABUJA, Nigeria (AA) – Nigerian troops killed at least eight senior members of Boko Haram in country’s northeast, an official said on Sunday.

John Enenche, spokesman for the Nigerian Defense Ministry, told reporters an airstrike targeted Boko Haram in the Goski village of Borno province.

Enenche said the shelters used by Boko Haram and logistic materials were also destroyed during the operation.

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.

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.