Nigeria's army chief says steady progress made to defeat Boko Haram

Nigeria's army chief Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai on Tuesday said troops have made a steady progress to soon defeat Boko Haram.

"We are not there yet but we are gradually getting there. We are making steady progress," the Nigerian army chief said when he visited troops of the 72 Special Force Battalion in Makurdi, capital of the north central state of Benue.

He said the task of overrunning the deadly Boko Haram terror group must be accomplished on record time. Troops have recently claimed to have arrested key members of Boko Haram, as well as destroyed some of their camps and a rocket-making factory in the northeastern state of Borno.

Boko Haram has since 2009 waged a campaign of violence in the West African country in an effort to establish an Islamic state.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has given a December deadline for the army to end the Boko Haram insurgency but recent attacks by the group has given citizens cause to doubt the possibility of ending the carnage.

Boko Haram, in its six-year violence, has killed some 13,000 people and kidnapped hundreds, with surrounding countries such as Niger, Chad and Cameroon affected. Endit