The Nigerian military on Wednesday, October 5 said that beyond the Sambisa Forest, the Boko Haram sect had no known base within Nigeria, The Punch reports.

The head of the nation’s counter-insurgency operation in the North East , Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor, said Boko Haram insurgents had been uprooted from their last known stronghold, Mallam Fatori, on September 27.

Irabor said, “We have captured Boko Haram’s last known strongholds of Abadam and Mallam Fatori, and we are now consolidating our hold.”

The military commander, who lamented that the recapture of Mallam Fatori from the insurgency was not without a cost as the military recorded human and material loses, said the troops were not jubilating yet as they were holding on strongly to areas retrieved from the insurgents and were ready to ward off any attack.

He said recent success of the military and the depletion of insurgency did not mean “we have heard the last from the insurgents.”

Irabor said there was an ongoing battle to uproot the insurgents from the Sambisa Forest.