Boko Haram terrorists have been expelled from a total of 36 towns in north-eastern Nigeria since the start of a four-nation military offensive, Coordinator, National Information Centre, Mr. Mike Omeri, said today in Abuja. He voiced hope that the operation could lead to the group’s “total defeat.”

Omeri said four towns had fallen since last Friday, including three in Borno state and Buni Yadi, in neighbouring Yobe, where the insurgents slaughtered more than 40 students in February last year before seizing it in August.

Crucial “co-operations and alliances” have led to victories over the Islamist rebels, he said, thanking neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger for cutting off “the supply lines of the terrorists.”

“It is hoped that the unfolding regional cooperation will hasten the total defeat and extermination of Boko Haram in Nigeria and the sub-region,” he added.

Since the unprecedented joint offensive was launched last month, Nigeria has maintained that its troops were controlling operations.

The conflict has killed more than 13,000 people since 2009, and critics have accused Jonathan and military top brass of failing to contain the violence.

The fighting has displaced more than 1.5 million people in Nigeria but Omeri claimed that some were “now returning to their homesteads to settle back into normal life.”

There was however no independent confirmation of significant numbers of displaced people returning home and Nigeria’s claims about the conflict have in the past not been consistent with reports from the ground.

The International Committee for the Red Cross on Tuesday warned of a “full blown humanitarian crisis” in the Lake Chad region, where Nigeria meets Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

•Adapted from an AFP report. Photo shows Nigerian troops posing with a Boko Haram flag in a recaptured town.