Niger’s forces killed 109 fighters from the Boko Haram group on Friday, as they repulsed attacks on border town of Bosso and Diffa, two Southeastern towns near the Nigerian border.
The group reportedly killed at least 70 people in an attack on the town of Fotokol in Cameroon on Wednesday.
Four Niger soldiers were killed, 13 were wounded and two were missing after the fighting in Bosso against Boko Haram, whose six-year insurgency is spreading from Nigeria to neighbouring States. In another fight in Diffa, four Niger soldiers were also wounded.
“At around 9 a.m. elements of the Boko Haram terrorist group launched two simultaneous attacks at Bosso and Diffa. At Bosso, Niger’s defence forces helped by Chadian troops neutralised the assailants,” Defence Minister, Karidio Mahamadou said.
There was no independent confirmation of the numbers killed.
The commander of Chadian forces deployed north of Lake Chad, General Yaya Doud, was shot in the stomach in Bosso. He had been evacuated to hospital in N’Djamena for treatment.
The Boko Haram insurgency has left thousands dead and displaced more than a million over the past six years.
The insurgency is the worst threat to Nigeria’s security as a Nation, and efforts by the military to contain the activities of the Boko Haram sect have continued.
The militants are also increasingly threatening neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon, prompting regional leaders to come up with a joint plan to defeat them. One of such plans was the setting up of a multinational task force to launch counter terrorism attacks on the sect in the region.
Chad had deployed some 2,500 soldiers to neighbouring Cameroon and Niger as part of this effort. Niger’s parliament is due to vote on Monday on a proposal by the government to send its troops into Nigeria to fight Boko Haram.
