MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria's military said on Tuesday it had killed 40 Islamist militants while repelling a coordinated attack in three parts of northeastern Borno state, in the heartland of their insurgency.
Militant group Boko Haram has been fighting for more than four years to try to carve an Islamic state out of religiously-mixed Nigeria, and remains the top security threat to Africa's leading energy producer despite an all-out military offensive against it ordered by President Goodluck Jonathan in May.