4 Boko Haram commanders nabbed in central Nigeria

Nigerian government forces in central Kogi State nabbed four high-profile members of the terror group Boko Haram following intelligence report, a senior state official said Tuesday.

The four Boko Haram commanders were arrested late Monday, said Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi State.

Boko Haram is suspected of regrouping in the state due to ongoing military operations in the country's northeast region.

"I want to tell them that they have chosen a wrong place to relocate because we will never allow them," Bello said in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.

According to him, the Kogi state government will, together with the armed forces, explore all means possible to rout the terrorists from their hideout.

This, the official noted, would consolidate on the victory and gains recorded by the armed forces in Nigeria's northeast region.

The Boko Haram insurgency has been blamed for more than 20,000 deaths and displacement of 2.3 million people since 2009.

Nigeria has made a considerable gain on the Boko Haram front, with its security forces operating in the restive region dislodging the Boko Haram fighters from the Sambisa Forest, the group's largest training camp in the country, last December.

The security forces are intensifying aerial and ground patrol in the country's northeast, extending their offensive mission around the Green Belt Region near Niger and Chad. Endit