Boko Haram militants have fled from deep within the Nigerian forest in the northeast of the country, after incessant snake bites and bee stings became too much for them to bear, according to local media reports.

Two suspected Boko Haram fighters were captured by the Nigerian civilian JTF army after they fled from the Sambisa Forest, in Borno State. The gunmen reportedly said they were being attacked by mystical bees and snakes that had already killed many other insurgents.

“We decided to flee when almost all our comrades are leaving the Sambisa because of constant attacks by snakes and bees, which we were told was as a result of Chibok abducted schoolgirls,” one of the two militants told Nigerian newspaper, the Vanguard.

'We were told that the aggrieved people who had suffered from our deadly mission, including the ghosts of some of those we killed, are the ones turning into the snake and bees.'

Apparently, bees and snakes are feared by Boko Haram fighters, as they are known to cause fatal injuries or make people disappear. It is also believed the bites and stings are in retaliation for the group's civilian kidnappings and killings in the surrounding region.

“We were told that the aggrieved people who had suffered from our deadly mission, including the ghosts of some of those we killed, are the ones turning into the snake and bees,” added another militant.

But despite driving some insurgents out of the undergrowth, the wildlife has not served as much of a deterrent to Boko Haram. There has been a rise in kidnappings and violence in Nigeria attributed to the militant Islamist group. The most recent bombing took place on Wednesday in a shopping mall in the capital of Abuja and killed at least 21 people. The blast took place as people gathered to watch the World Cup.

Violent attacks are a near daily occurrence in the northeast of Nigeria, where Boko Haram is attempting to install a fundamentalist Islamic state. Last week, witnesses reported that Boko Haram militants captured 60 men and women and killed 30. This suspected attack took place 100 miles from Borno's state capital of Maiduguri, and close to where the kidnapping of the 300 girls took place in April. The captured men and women have yet to be released.

One official in the area said that militants had set fire to the entire village and looted barns for foods and goods.

Another Boko Haram attack took place on Monday, when at least eight people were killed and 20 injured in a bombing on a college campus in Kano, in the north of Nigeria.