Cameroonian, Nigerian troops free 45 from Boko Haram

Nigerian and Cameroonian forces killed suspected Boko Haram terrorists and freed more than three dozen hostages during a raid to combat the insurgency in several West African nations, a military spokesman said Saturday.

“Troops killed 10 Boko Haram terrorists and also rescued 45 persons,” in an operation against the insurgents in villages including Mararraba, Angwan Fada, Dale, Wizha, Bokko Timit, Bokko Nasanu, Bokko Hide and Ngoshe Ngoshe, Nigeria’s army spokesman, Colonel Sani Usman, said in an e-mailed statement.

The troops safely detonated five improvised explosives in the border towns while four soldiers in a separate operation were injured when they stepped on buried explosives, he said.

The leader of an elite unit of Cameroonian soldiers, Captain Yari Emmanuel of the Rapid Intervention Battalion, was killed Thursday during a joint operation with Nigerian forces that led to the killing of at least 27 militants, according to L’Oeil du Sahel newspaper.

Thousands of people have been killed in Nigeria as the drive by Boko Haram militants to impose their version of Islamic law begins its seventh year. The violence has spilled into Cameroon, Chad and Niger, spurring those nations to contribute soldiers to a regional force to defeat the group.