By Olarewaju Kola

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria

At least 100 militants were killed and hostages freed in a raid on a Boko Haram base in northeast Nigeria, officials said Wednesday.

The operation in Borno state saw around 100 hostages - mostly women and children whose husbands and fathers had been killed by the militants - freed near Boboshe, a Boko Haram stronghold halfway between state capital Maiduguri and the Cameroon border.

Mohammed Ali, chairman of the local council in Dikwa, said the insurgents met weekly at the site to hold a market.

“The terrorists took many women and children and some elderly ones into custody after killing their husbands and fathers,” he told Anadolu Agency. “But the military raided them on Monday and killed more than 100 of them.”

Local elder Baba Ali Mele said he saw many insurgents’ bodies following the raid, a claim corroborated by Jibrin Shuwa, a youth vigilante in Dikwa.

The deputy state governor, Usman Durkwa, said more than 100 women, children and men had been taken to a nearby Internally Displaced Persons camp.

“Reports indicated they were being used by the insurgents as a shield at Garidawaji and Mamawari villages in Dikwa local government, a Boko Haram den,” he said.

Despite government claims to have defeated the group, Boko Haram still control some communities in the heart of Borno, from where they launch attacks.

Last weekend, the group attacked a settlement near Maiduguri, killing at least 85 in its largest attack in recent months.

The group has been fighting a six-year insurgency to secure a separate state in northeast Nigeria that has seen at least 20,000 killed and 2.3 million forced from their homes.