Nigeria military attacks camps, kills 21

{{Soldiers in Nigeria launched their first raid against suspected Islamic extremists in a campaign to take back control of the nation’s northeast, killing at least 21 people, a security official said Friday.}}

The fighting happened Thursday in the Sambisa Forest Reserve, just south of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, which soldiers previously targeted hunting for fighters belonging to the extremist network known as Boko Haram.

Details of the raid, however, remained sketchy on Friday as a military spokesman offered contradictory details about the assault.

Meanwhile, gunmen launched an assault on the hometown of one of Nigeria’s former military rulers hundreds of miles (kilometers) away, attacking police stations and banks.

Soldiers started the attack on Sambisa Forest Reserve on Thursday, having previously converged on the area in advance of President Goodluck Jonathan’s state of emergency decree affecting three states in the nation’s northeast, a security official said.

The shelling with cannons killed at least 21 suspected Islamic extremists, the official said. There was no independent confirmation of the assault or casualties.

“We are not going to leave the forest until it’s over,” the official said, referring to the emergency rule.

{AP}