MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) Nigeria's military says it has killed nine Boko Haram militants about 55 miles (85 kilometers) south of Maiduguri, the original home of the 4-year-old Islamic insurgency.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Muhammed Dole said one soldier and several fleeing militants also were wounded during Friday's shootout and that soldiers confiscated arms, ammunition and three vehicles, and destroyed two pickup trucks.
Boko Haram has killed thousands of people since 2009, in attacks on schools, media houses, churches, mosques, security forces and the local U.N. headquarters.
Three states in Nigeria's northeast have been in a state of emergency for six months.
The U.S. this week declared Boko Haram and the splinter group Ansaru foreign terrorist organizations as northeastern Nigeria began what is expected to be another six months of emergency rule.
