The Nigerian military said on Monday that it had finally reclaimed Bama, a major town in Borno State which was captured by Boko Haram terrorists in September last year, from the insurgents.

The military headquarters also announced that it had successfully flushed out the insurgents from Goniri, the last territory in Yobe state to be so liberated.

A statement released on Monday by Chris Olukolade, defence spokesman, said that that Bama was reclaimed from the Boko Haram fighters in an operation that lasted many days and after “careful manouvre and efforts to scale series of obstacles and land mines planted by terrorists who have occupied the town for months.”

He stated that the insurgency group suffered massive casualties just as many of them were forced to flee the liberated town.

Olukolade, a Major General, said further that soldiers from the Chadian Army “have been mandated to undertake a pursuit of the terrorists who are believed to be heading for the borders after being dislodged from Bama.”

He stated that as Nigerian troops had commenced a cordon and search exercise to ensure that any remaining insurgent trying to operate in the area is apprehended, adding that arms and ammunition are being recovered in the town.

Bama is headquarters of the second largest local government in Borno State of the same name and has been in the hands of Boko Haram terrorists since early September, 2014.

The defence spokesman also announced that insurgents had also been flushed out of Goniri, “the last major stronghold of the terrorists operating in Yobe state” “after days of manouvre.”

Olukolade said in the statement that with the recapture of Goniri, the insurgents had been flushed out of the last of the two local governments which they occupied.

‘This completes the clearing of Gujba Local Government Area (LGA), one of the two LGA occupied by the terrorists in Yobe state.  The other Local Government, Gulani, was finally cleared earlier in the month.  This makes Yobe the second to be successfully cleared among the three state slated for the mission to dislodge terrorists bases,” he said.

According to the Major General, the troops had also commenced a cordon and search operation to ensure that no more Boko Haram fighters were still in the area..

The recapture of Bama and Goniri follows a pattern of victories recorded over the Boko Haram terrorist group as two states, Adamawa and Yobe, where large swaths of territory had been captured, have now been rid of the insurgents, leaving only Borno.