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Nigeria Denies Officers Court Martialed for Helping Boko Haram


FILE - Director of Defense Information, Major General Chris Olukolade addresses the media in Abuja, Nigeria, May 2014.
FILE - Director of Defense Information, Major General Chris Olukolade addresses the media in Abuja, Nigeria, May 2014.
Nigerian officials are denying a report that 15 officers, including 10 generals, have been court martialed for cooperating with Boko Haram militants.

The Leadership newspaper reported the officers were found guilty of giving information and ammunition to the radical Islamist group, which is blamed for thousands of deaths over the past five years.

On Wednesday, two officials, military spokesman Major-General Chris Olukolade and government communications official Mike Olmeri, told VOA the report was "not true."

Nigeria's government has struggled to contain Boko Haram despite a state of emergency in the northeast and the deployment of thousands of troops to the area.

The group has attacked schools, markets, places of worship and military bases. Witnesses say the militants sometimes dress in military uniforms, and often have more firepower than soldiers.

Boko Haram is still holding more than 200 schoolgirls it kidnapped from a school in Borno state in mid-April.

Heather Murdock in Abuja and Peter Clottey in Washington contributed this report.
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