ABUJA, Nigeria

Eighteen people were killed in an attack earlier this week by the Boko Haram terror group in the northeastern state of Borno in Nigeria, according to the state’s governor on Friday. 

Governor Babagana Zulum, during a visit to the Damasak region, said 21 others were also injured on Tuesday in the terror attack.

The army launched air and ground operations against the terror group in the region, said army spokesman Mohammed Yerima.

He said terrorists were killed and shelters, belonging to the terror group were destroyed during the army's offensive.

Damasak is a grain-producing town along Lake Chad on Nigeria’s border with Niger.

Boko Haram launched a bloody insurgency in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria but later spread its atrocities to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a military response.

More than 30,000 people have been killed and nearly 3 million displaced in a decade of Boko Haram's terror activities in Nigeria, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Violence committed by Boko Haram has affected 26 million people in the Lake Chad region and displaced 2.6 million others, according to the UN Refugee Agency.