DHAKA: Nigerian soldiers backed by air support have tracked down and killed 50 members of Islamist sect Boko Haram in the sect`s northeastern stronghold.

An army spokesman said on Saturday, reports The Jerusalem Post.

Suspected members of Boko Haram killed 20 people in two attacks late on Wednesday and early on Thursday in the villages of Gajiram and Bulabulin Ngabura in the northeastern Borno state, local residents said.

‘Troops pursued the terrorists to their camps and with air support about 50 terrorists were killed in a shoot-out,’ army spokesman Sagir Musa told reporters in Maiduguri.

Boko Haram, which wants to impose sharia law in northern Nigeria, and other splinter Islamist groups, are the biggest threat to stability in Africa’s top oil exporter.

BDST: 1428 HRS, SEPT 07, 2013
RoR/BSK