The Nigerian military on Saturday engaged in an intense gun battle with the notorious Boko Haram militants at the outskirts of Marte town in the country's northeastern state of Borno, at the end of which scores of terrorists had been killed and the stronghold reclaimed by the authorities.
The militants had attempted to attack the troops' location on late Friday night at a military formation in Borno, resulting in the subsequent gunfight, reported Xinhua news agency.
The Jihadists, aligned with the Islamic State militant group, had earlier captured the military base after overnight clashes with troops.
The agency reported, citing spokesman for the Nigerian military Benard Onyeuko, that the military ambush was carried out on "reliable information" and that the troops waited for the right time at the site to "tactically swoop" in on the militants.
An unconfirmed number of Boko Haram terrorists have been killed in he ensuing gun battle and at least seven trucks belonging to the terrorists have also been destroyed.
Notably, netizens on Nigerian Twitter were abuzz with gratitude to the country's troops for driving away the notorious terrorists from one of their noted strongholds and resoring the national flag there.Notably,
Notably, the Boko Haram group has been trying to establish an Islamist state in northeastern Nigeria since 2009. The deadly group has also extended its attacks to neighbouring countries in the Lake Chad Basin.
Local defense forces had been asking for more government support to fight Boko Haram's insurgency, which has killed more than 20,000 people and displaced millions in the past eight years.
In November last year, officials began the phased return of residents to Marte six years after they were pushed out by the jihadists.
The town, 130 kilometres (80 miles) from the regional capital Maiduguri, was once considered the breadbasket of the Lake Chad region.
At least 36,000 people have been killed in the jihadist conflict since 2009 and violence has spread into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition.
(With inputs from agencies)
