The Nigerian Army had on Monday said nine key media personalities of the Islamic State-backed Boko Haram insurgent group have been murdered.

Those murdered, the army said, included Abu Hurayra al-Barnawi, Ali al-Ghalam al-Kajiri, Abu Musab Muhammed Mustafa al-Maiduguri and Abu Abdullah Ali al-Barnawi.

Others were Abu Musa al-Camerooni, Ahmed al-Muhajir, Abu Ali al-Bamawi, Abu Khubayb bin Ahmed al-Barnawi and Abu al-Qa’qa’ al-Maiduguri.

“The annihilation of members of its media team further confirms that the NA has decimated the group and they no longer have freedom of action,” Nigerian Army said on Twitter.

The insurgents have repeatedly claimed to have crumbled the Nigerian army in the northern part of the country.

In May, the insurgents claimed responsibilities of not less than 12 assaults in different northeastern states, with most of them localised in Borno State.

56 Nigerian soldiers, ten Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) and three The Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) were murdered in the assaults.

Nigeria and its neighbouring countries have struck back, trailing the terrorists out of villages they had seized.

Boko Haram has ravaged across northern Nigeria for years, murdering thousands of civilians, burning entire villages and abducting hundreds of women and girls.

The military campaign has been so effective, according to Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, that he declared the group “technically” defeated multiple times.

That claimed was re-echoed by the army’s statement on Monday.