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Tag: Chadian troops

  • 117 Boko Haram fighters killed in Chad

    Chad on Friday said its troops have killed 117 Boko Haram fighters in an operation against the extremists holed up on the islands of Lake Chad.

    “117 terrorists have been killed, two Chadian soldiers died and two others were wounded in the operation against the Nigeria-based movement, which began two weeks ago, Reuters quoted the Chadian  army spokesman, Col. Azem Bermendoa Agouna,  as saying on the issue.

    “For two weeks, Boko Haram terrorists have been trying to infiltrate our islands on Lake Chad to carry out attacks on peaceful citizens,”he said, adding that military operations were ongoing.

    The borders of Chad and northeast Nigeria converge on Lake Chad with those of Cameroon and Niger, further north.

    “Our armed forces and security forces have launched a vast offensive to dig out and neutralize these terrorists on these islands,” Agouna said.

    There was no immediate independent confirmation of the Chadian army claim.

    “Several boats have been destroyed and several weapons of different calibres have been recovered,” Azem said of the operation which was targeted on the island villages of Koungya, Merikouta, Choua and Blarigui.

    “The sweep continues and the definitive toll will be released later,” the spokesman added.

  • Chadian helicopters bomb Boko Haram locations

    Two Chadian army helicopters bombed Nigerian Boko Haram positions on Sunday, killing several dozen militants near a village on the border with Niger, a senior Niger military official told Reuters.

    Niger and Chadian soldiers have been fighting the insurgents in a joint mission with Nigeria and Cameroon since March 2, in a bid to end Boko Haram’s six-year insurgency in northern Nigeria that is threatening regional stability.

    The helicopters destroyed several vehicles and motorcycles carrying fighters in the Nigerian village of Djaboullam, which lies east across the border from the Niger town of Diffa, the Niger officer said.

    “Niger and Chad had received intelligence that a group of Boko Haram fighters had gathered in the border village,” the officer said.

    The Niger military officer, who requested anonymity, said Boko Haram fighters had moved to Djaboullam after they were chased from other towns by the Nigerian army. Militants were also gathering in other border towns from where they routinely launch mortar rounds into Niger, he said.

    “We know they are massing in Malam Fatori, waiting for us to come,” he said, referring to another northeast Nigerian town about three kilometres (two miles) from Bosso, the nearest town across the border in Niger.

    The regional offensive launched this year comes as Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and biggest economy, prepares to hold elections on March 28.

    The offensive has succeeded in driving the militants from several towns and districts they previously held. Chad and Niger forces captured the town of Damasak from the militants last week.

     

  • Chadian troops return to Gamboru after Boko Haram kills 11

    Chadian troops yesterday returned to the border town of Gamboru, Borno State, residents said, after Boko Haram took advantage of a lack of military presence to kill 11 people on Wednesday.

    “Hundreds of Chadian troops moved into Gamboru this morning (yesterday) from Fotokol,” said Babagana Karimbe, who lives in the town in northern Cameroon which is separated from Gamboru by a bridge.

    Troops from Chad were instrumental to the liberation of the town from Boko Haram control last month but the Chadians’ withdrawal from Nigeria last week appeared to have left the town exposed.

    The terrorists returned on Wednesday, killing eight people, while three more were killed on Thursday.

    Karimbe told AFP that the deployment began at about 7:20 am and involved dozens of vehicles, including tanks.ý

    “They are now in Gamboru. It is clear Boko Haram gunmen had fled before the troops deployed because we have not heard a single shot since the Chadian soldiers moved in,” he added.

    “Our prayer is for the troops to remain in Gamboru because if they withdraw again Boko Haram will definitely return and continue killing people.”

    The lack of security presence exposed an apparent lack of coordination between the allies, whose sustained offensive has led to the recapture of dozens of towns in northeast Nigeria.

    Chadian troops had pushed into Nigerian territory after freeing Gamboru, going on to retake the Borno town of Dikwa, near Boko Haram’s Sambisa Forest stronghold.

    Fotokol resident Umar Ari said by telephone that Gamboru residents welcomed the soldiers with clapping and cheering, supporting Karimbe’s account that no shots were fired.

    “From Gardumba neighbourhood (on the outskirts of Fotokol) we can see the Chadian soldiers moving around Gamboru but we have not seen any Boko Haram gunmen,” he added.

    “We catch glimpses of Boko Haram ýgunmen whenever they are in Gamboru. On Wednesday we saw them riding around Gamboru on motorcycles brandishing guns”.

    The regional offensive involving Nigerian troops, Chad, Cameroon and Niger was cited as a reason for postponing the Nigerian general election, which was initially scheduled for February 14.

  • Boko Haram: Nigerien, Chadian troops uncover 70 bodies in Borno mass grave

    Boko Haram: Nigerien, Chadian troops uncover 70 bodies in Borno mass grave

    Troops from Chad and Niger have discovered what appears to be a mass grave outside Damasak,Borno State,which was liberated from the terror group Boko Haram last weekend.

    No fewer than 70 bodies,some of them beheaded,were found dumped near a bridge outside the town .

    The skeletal bodies were partially mummified by the dry desert atmosphere,  witnesses said, suggesting that the killing had taken place some time ago.

    Niger military sources said yesterday that they were awaiting the arrival of Nigerian authorities to take charge of the operation.

    “Niger and Chad’s troops have discovered a mass grave at Damasak, which appears to contain the bodies of Boko Haram’s victims,” said one of the military sources, who asked not to be identified.

    The dusty streets of Damasak were largely deserted following its liberation on Saturday, after many inhabitants had fled the terrorists’ four-month rule. Shops and businesses were looted and Boko Haram’s black and white insignia were scrawled on buildings around the town.

    Nigeria announced on Thursday that scores of dead bodies had been found in a well in Bama, Borno State that was also recently reclaimed by  Nigerian troops, from Boko Haram.

    The authorities said the large number of bodies found in the well are apparently some of the hostages of the terrorists or those who resisted them.

    An intelligence officer is reported to have confirmed that a cordon and search operation in the town is continuing with interrogation by troops.

    Bama, the second largest Local Government Area in Borno, fell to Boko Haram on September 11, 2014.

    Some residents, mostly women and children who tried to flee the area at the time were reported to have died of thirst and hunger as insurgents tightened their grip on the town.

    The community was liberated from the group on Monday by Nigerian soldiers.

  • Boko Haram attacks Chadian troops in Nigerian town

    Boko Haram fighters attacked Chadian army positions in Gambaru, a town in northeastern Nigeria, on Wednesday, and were beaten back, Chadian military sources said.

    “We knew they were going to attack us. We were waiting. The battle didn’t last long. They fled,” one military source told Reuters, noting that eight Chadian soldiers were wounded, three of 14 Boko Haram vehicles were destroyed and one was seized.

    Chadian troops are in Gambaru as part of a regional offensive against Boko Haram, whose militants have staged several cross-border attacks over the past week as part of its campaign to establish a caliphate in northern part of Nigeria.

  • Chad troops in Nigerian town for Boko Haram

    Chadian troops have entered the northern Nigerian town of Gambaru on the border with Cameroon that has been under the control of Nigeria’s Boko Haram insurgents for several months, Chadian military sources said on Tuesday.

    The Nigerian government and military officials were not immediately available to comment.

    “Our troops entered Nigeria this morning. The combat is ongoing,” one of the sources at Chad’s army headquarters told Reuters.

    Chad has deployed some 2,500 troops as part of a regional effort to take on the militant group that has waged a bloody insurgency to create an Islamist emirate in northern Nigeria.

  • Chadian army kills 120 Boko Haram militants in Cameroon

    Chadian forces have killed 120 Boko Haram militants in a battle in the north of neighbouring Cameroon that began when the insurgents attacked its troops, the army said in a statement on Saturday, adding that three of its soldiers were killed.

    Reuters reports that Boko Haram has recently launched cross-border attacks from Nigeria into Cameroon and Chad as part of its drive for an Islamist state in the northeast of Nigeria.

    Chad and Cameroon have stepped up troop deployments to fight the militants.