JTF killed 13 Boko Haram members in Maiduguri

The Joint Task Force (JTF) yesterday killed not less than 13 combatants of Boko Haram, the Islamist militants group that has declared war against the Federal Government. 

Boko Haram has killed over 34 people since Christmas, in separate terror operations across the North of Nigeria. 27 of the victims are Christians attending church services.

The Joint Task Force Operation Restore Order lost one soldier during yesterday’s gun battle but succeeded in killing 13 Boko Haram operatives in what some may call bloody massacre. The operations took place in isolated hamlets in Maiduguri.


The spokesman of the Joint Task Force Sagir Musa while confirming the battle with Boko Haram condemned alleged Boko Haram attacks going back to July 2012, describing them as "incessant callous, brutal, barbaric and impious killings."

These attacks included ones on mosques, churches and businesses. Human Rights Watch said the militant group has killed more than 2,800 people in all.

On Christmas Eve, attackers raided two churches, killing 12 people and setting one of the churches ablaze. Six days later, suspected Boko Haram fighters killed at least 15 Christian worshipers, slitting some of their throats, according to JTF reports. 

Boko Haram carried out its largest known massacre in January 2012 killing 211 through coordinated bombings and gun assaults in the northern city of Kano.