Nigerian army kills more than 70 Boko Haram militants.

With the help of militias, the Nigerian army announced on March 3 that it had killed more than 73 Boko Haram militants after thwarting an unsuccessful attack by the Islamist militant group to seize the strategic town of Konduga in northeastern Borno state.

A Boko Haram armored vehicle was set ablaze by Nigerian government forces. Photo: AFP/VNA

Earlier that morning, approximately 150 Boko Haram militants entered the town of Konduga and opened fire on the soldiers stationed there, leading to a six-hour gunfight.

According to Butari Mala, a militiaman, at least 73 Boko Haram fighters were killed in the counterattack, while the rest fled and are being pursued. A Nigerian military source confirmed this figure.

Nigerian soldiers and militia forces repelled more than a dozen Boko Haram attacks on the town of Konduga, located 35km southeast of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

Currently, soldiers and militiamen are stationed here to prevent Boko Haram from using the town as a springboard to attack the capital Maiduguri, which the militant group considers a key target in its plan to establish an extremist Islamic state.

Boko Haram has become Nigeria's biggest security threat since 2009 when the group launched an insurgency aimed at establishing an Islamic state in the north of Africa's most populous nation.

Boko Haram currently controls a vast territory encompassing dozens of towns across three northeastern states. Violence linked to Boko Haram has claimed the lives of more than 13,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes.

According to Vietnam+