Boko Haram commander reportedly killed in clash with Nigerian forces

A leading commander of Islamist extremist group Boko Haram has been killed along with 200 other militants in a rare victory for Nigeria’s armed forces, according to reports.

One Nigerian army officer said a feared commander known only as Amir was among the dead after a battle on Friday in Konduga town, 35 kilometres from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state and birthplace of the extremist group.

Also killed were a Boko Haram video journalist and a suicide bomber, he said.

There were no military casualties, according to the officer and a civilian self-defence group that fights alongside the soldiers. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to reporters.

Boko Haram has captured a string of towns in recent weeks stretching over 320 kilometres alongside Nigeria’s north-east border with Cameroon in a new campaign to create an Islamic caliphate, mimicking the Isis group in Syria and Iraq.

The extremists also have attacked a town and villages across the border in Cameroon, but that country’s state radio said Cameroonian troops beat them off and forced them back across the border into Nigeria.

The United States said last week it is about to launch a major border security program for Nigeria and its neighbours, but gave no details.

Thousands of civilians have been forced from their homes in the latest offensive, joining more than 1.5 million other Nigerians who are refugees within their country or across borders in Niger, Cameroon and Chad, according to UN figures.

Extremists who have taken other towns have told residents that their next target is Maiduguri, the headquarters of the military campaign in the north-east. Boko Haram has attacked the city several times, with suicide and car bombs that have killed scores. In December they launched a bold attack on an air force base on the outskirts in which they destroyed five aircraft and in February an assault on the main military barracks in the city, in which they freed hundreds of detainees.

The soldiers killed hundreds of unarmed detainees in the aftermath of that last attack, mostly civilians accused of belonging to or supporting the insurgency. Amnesty International put the number of civilians killed by the soldiers at nearly 700.

Nigeria’s military is accused of massive human rights abuses in the fight against the extremists, including the deaths of thousands of illegally detained people