About 120 militant Islamists have been arrested in Nigeria’s north-eastern city of Maiduguri, as they were organising the burial of a commander, an army spokesman has said.

The military has also recaptured five areas from the militants, he added.

There has been no independent confirmation of what the army has said.

President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in three north-eastern states last week to quell the insurgency by the Boko Haram group.

It has carried out a wave of bombings and assassinations since 2009, saying it wants to establish an Islamic state across Nigeria.

A second Islamist group, Ansaru, joined the insurgency in 2012, taking foreigners hostage.

Officials say some 2,000 people have fled to neighbouring Niger, while more have crossed into Cameroon, since the army launched its offensive in the states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe last week.

‘Shallow graves’

Some 2,000 soldiers were deployed to the region last week, in the biggest campaign to date against the Islamist militants.

The army has said it is also sending an extra 1,000 troops to Adamawa state.

Militants fleeing towards neighbouring Chad and Niger are being “contained”, military spokesman Chris Olukolade said, in a statement on Monday.

“Advancing troops also observed a few shallow graves believed to be those of hurriedly buried members of the terrorist groups,” he added.

Brig Gen Olukolade said the 120 militants who were arrested were being interrogated, bringing to more than 200 the number of Islamists the army says it has arrested since last week.

FULL STORY:http://naija366.com/nigeria-boko-haram-islamists-arrested-in-maiduguri/