Twenty members of the Boko Haram Islamic fundamentalist were killed Sunday, when the Joint Task Force, JTF, raided their hideout, an officer with the JTF confirmed.

One soldier was also killed in the shootout in Maiduguri, the capital of the Borno state, the officer said.

Colonel Victor Ebhaleme, field operations officer of the military and police mixed Joint Task Force (JTF) said the JTF gathered from intelligence that some members of the group were holding a gathering at a location in Maiduguri:  "When we approached the venue of their
meeting point, the terrorists opened fire on the JTF, which led to the killing of 20 terrorists while we lost one soldier and two others sustained injury," he said.

Boko Haram has not commented on the incident and it was not yet possible confirm the incident from other sources.