<\/p>\n
Gamboru (Nigeria) (AFP) – Chad said Wednesday it inflicted heavy losses on
\nNigeria’s Boko Haram, killing “over 200” Islamist militants in a border
\ntown that it wrested from the rebels in a ground offensive.<\/p>\n
Nine Chadian soldiers were also killed and 21 injured Tuesday in Gamboru
\nas regional forces took the fight against the insurgents on to Nigerian
\nsoil for the first time, the Chadian army said.
\n“This toll is provisional,” the Chadian military said in a statement,
\nadding that troops were still combing the town on Nigeria’s border with
\nCameroon for lingering rebel elements.<\/p>\n
Around 2,000 Chadian troops backed by armoured vehicles poured across the
\nborder into Gamboru on Tuesday after the African Union last week backed a
\nregional force to take on the extremists.
\nThe sound of automatic gunfire could heard Wednesday in the town, which
\nhas been abandoned by residents after a barrage of air strikes by Chad in
\nthe run-up to its offensive, an AFP journalist reported.<\/p>\n
While the operation in Gamboru continued, the town of Fotokol on the other
\nside of the border, in Cameroon, came under fresh attack from the
\njihadists.<\/p>\n
“The guys (Boko Haram) entered this morning. The fighting between them and
\nour soldiers is very intense,” a Cameroonian security source in Fotokol
\ntold AFP by telephone.<\/p>\n
The Cameroonian troops had managed to repel the attack by mid-morning,
\nafter Chadian soldiers crossed back from Nigeria to help defend the town.<\/p>\n
\n– ‘Hunt them everywhere’ –<\/p>\n
In Gamboru, the clashes left scenes of desolation, with bodies lying on
\nthe ground, houses destroyed, shops gutted and trucks charred.<\/p>\n
“We have routed this band of terrorists,” the commander of the Chadian
\ncontingent Ahmat Dari told AFP Tuesday, vowing to “hunt them down
\neverywhere.”<\/p>\n
Nigeria’s military has drawn fierce criticism for failing to hold back the
\ninsurgents, who have stepped up their campaign of terror in country’s
\nnortheast in the run-up to presidential and parliamentary elections on
\nFebruary 14.<\/p>\n
In recent months the group has also carried out increasing cross-border
\nraids, threatening regional security.<\/p>\n
Chad’s intervention reflects the growing nervousness among Nigeria’s
\nneighbours over the prospect of Boko Haram achieving its stated aim of
\ncarving out an Islamic caliphate on their borders.<\/p>\n
– Nigerian sovereignty ‘intact’ –<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Nigerian defence spokesman Chris Olukolade denied that the presence of
\nforeign troops on Nigerian soil compromised the country’s sovereignty.<\/p>\n
“Nigeria’s territorial integrity remains intact,” he said, claiming
\nnational forces had “planned and are driving the present onslaught against
\nterrorists from all fronts in Nigeria, not the Chadian forces”.<\/p>\n
Regional forces have gone into action on several fronts.<\/p>\n
Chadian troops and vehicles have massed near Boko Haram-held towns along
\nNigeria’s border with Niger, pointing the way to another possible
\ncross-border operation.<\/p>\n
“A contingent of about 400 vehicles and tanks is stationed between Mamori
\nand Bosso,” Niger’s private radio Anfani reported.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
– French help –<\/p>\n
France is supporting the operations by carrying out reconnaissance flights
\nover border areas of Chad and Cameroon, defence officials in Paris said.<\/p>\n
At least 13,000 people have been killed and more than a million forced
\nfrom their homes since Boko Haram launched an insurgency in 2009.<\/p>\n
The group has stepped up its attacks in recent weeks, in a move believed
\nto be aimed at disrupting the elections.<\/p>\n
The rebels have tried, in vain, to capture the strategic northeastern town
\nof Maiduguri twice in the past week.<\/p>\n
On Monday, President Goodluck Jonathan — who is running for re-election
\nagainst a former military ruler who has vowed to defeat Boko Haram —
\nescaped a suspected suicide bomb attack after attending a campaign rally
\nin Gombe in the northeast.<\/p>\n
Chad’s President Idriss Deby sent soldiers to Cameroon in mid-January to
\nassist troops from Yaounde fighting increasing rebel incursions in the
\ncountry\u2019s far northeast.<\/p>\n
N\u2019Djamena was already part of a long-standing regional force with Niger
\nand Nigeria in the Lake Chad area.<\/p>\n
But that force had been assumed to be moribund after Boko Haram overran
\nthe multi-national base in Baga, northern Borno state, on January 3, in an
\nattack that also left hundreds of civilians feared dead.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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