Nigeria's military has made a "massive deployment of men and resources" to contain a burgeoning Islamist insurgency in the country's restive north-eastern region, it was announced late on Wednesday.
The move comes a day after Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in the northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, and ordered the military to take "all necessary action" to "put an end to the impunity of insurgents and terrorists" in the region.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Nigerian military said it had "commenced operations to rid the nation's border territories of terrorist bases." The operation is aimed at "asserting the nation's territorial integrity," it added.
A day earlier, Jonathan said while declaring emergency in the three northeastern states that the recent attacks on government buildings and killings of officials and other civilians by members of the radical Boko Haram Islamist sect amounted "to a declaration of war."
"What we are facing is not just militancy or criminality, but a rebellion and insurgency by terrorist groups which pose a very serious threat to national unity and territorial integrity. It would appear that there is a systematic effort by insurgents and terrorists to destabilize the Nigerian State and test our collective resolve," he said.
Incidentally, Nigeria's north-eastern regions are predominantly Muslim, with the south being dominated by Christians. In recent years, the Muslim-dominated north-eastern states have been witnessing a campaign of violence by Boko Haram.
Boko claims that it is fighting the Nigerian government to create an Islamic state in the West African country's north. The radical Islamist group is also opposed to Western education which it considers to be anti-Islamic.
More than 3,500 people are believed to have been killed since Boko began its campaign of violence four years ago. The group has carried out numerous bomb and gun-attacks on churches, schools, police stations, military facilities, banks, and liquor outlets in northern Nigeria.
The outlawed group had also claimed responsibility for the deadly car bomb attack on the U.N. building in Abuja in 2011 as well as a suicide-bomb attack targeting the police headquarters in the Nigerian capital earlier that year.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.