KANO, Nigeria (AFP) - The Nigerian army killed 24 Islamic militants who had taken refuge in the mountainous northeastern region bordering Cameroon, the spokesman for the northeastern state of Borno said.
"Soldiers went into the mountains and engaged the 'Talibans' in a gun battle for almost two hours today and succeeded in killing 24 of them while the rest fled deep into the mountains," Borno State spokesman Usman Chiroma told AFP by telephone. He said the militants were aged between 13 and 40.
The radical Islamic group had attacked two police stations in Borno state on Monday, killing four policemen and a civilian, destroying cars, buildings and carting away ammunition and taking five police officers hostage -- two of whom have reportedly been killed.
The militant group, made up of middle-class university students and which claims to draw its inspiration from Afghanistan's extreme Islamic Taliban militia, launched an attack in January in neighbouring Yobe State which was put down by soldiers after three days of fighting.
Scores of the insurgents, who numbered about 200, were killed and 50 were arrested, but others evaded arrest and went underground.
Chiroma said the bodies of the militants had been brought to the Borno state capital Maiduguri, where immigration and customs officials were to examine them in order to establish their nationalities.
The Nigerian authorities have said they are working with their counterparts in Cameroon to catch the militants holed up in the mountainous region.
The state governor of Borno, Ali Modu Sherif wrote to Cameroonian President Paul Biya on Thursday to ask for help in setting up a security cordon along the border, which runs through the Mandara mountains, to prevent the militants from fleeing into Cameroon, Chiroma said.
"Now that the soldiers are mounting pressure on them the insurgents may try to cross the border into Cameroun which is why the governor wrote to Camerounian president asking for his help," he said.