At least 998 people have been rescued by the Nigerian Army in its onslaught against the Boko Haram group.
In a statement, the Director of Army Public Relations Brigadier General Sani Usman, said the operation followed information about the presence of the extremists in some villages around Ngala in Borno State, North East Nigeria.
The statement adds that some of the terrorists on sighting the troops fled, but were subdued and neutralised.
The troops were reported to have located and destroyed a bomb-making factory.
They also recovered weapons and boko haram terrorist flags.
The statement read in part, “The patrol team had a fierce encounter with the terrorists at Ndufu which they decisively dealt with before proceeding to clear Muktu and Muzuri, as well as nearby communities within the area.
“Although some of terrorists fled to various direction on sighting the troops, the patrol team was able to neutralise nine terrorists, destroyed their Improvised Explosive Device (IED) making factory and rescued 998 persons.
“Those rescued were 125 at Ndufu, 802 at Muktu and 71 persons at Muzuri. Interestingly, despite the heat of the battle, the troops also vaccinated all children under the age of 5 with Polio vaccinations.
“In addition, the troops recovered 1 AK-47 Rifle with registration number 565231515, an AK-47 Rifle Magazine, twp Boko Haram terrorist flags, four motorcycles, two solar panels, two already prepared IEDs, detonating cords and other explosive making components.”
