Nigeria's military today claimed to have recaptured the town of Baga from Boko Haram, more than a month after it was overrun in what is feared to be the worst massacre of its six-year insurgency.
Defence spokesman Chris Olukolade claimed that "a large number of terrorists" drowned in Lake Chad as they tried to flee bombardment from air force jets.
The town, a fishing hub on the shore of Lake Chad in the far north of Borno state, northeast Nigeria, was recaptured today morning after the assault began the previous day, he added.
There was no independent corroboration of the claim, as thousands of Baga residents had fled the town after Boko Haram attacked on January 3 and hundreds, if not more, were killed in the following days.
Much of the town and 12 surrounding settlements were burnt to the ground.
Boko Haram's capture of Baga -- and a military base used by a multi-national force in nearby Doron Baga -- was seen as a strategic coup for the group, giving them control of Borno's entire border area.
It raised fears of attacks in neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, whose frontiers converge with Nigeria's on Lake Chad, but also a possible push south to the state capital, Maiduguri.
