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YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — Cameroon’s government spokesman says troops have freed 900 hostages held by Nigeria’s Boko Haram extremists, killed more than 100 fighters and arrested 100 others.

Issa Tchiroma Bakary said Wednesday that Cameroonians, Chadians and Nigerians held by the Islamic extremists were freed in an operation from Nov. 27 to 29 from several camps by joint forces from Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Benin. He said they are being reunited with families.

Bakary said troops killed more than 100 fighters and also arrested one of the group’s leaders along with about 100 other fighters in Boko Haram strongholds in the Sambisa Forest, which straddles northeastern Nigeria and Cameroon, and the Lake Chad area.

Boko Haram’s 6-year uprising has killed 20,000 people. The Islamic extremist group has expanded attacks into Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

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