Three soldiers and 123 Boko Haram
militants were killed when the
Islamist group attacked a Chadian
army contingent in northern
Cameroon, the Chadian military
said.
Twelve soldiers were wounded in
the attacks staged by the Islamists
on Thursday and Friday near the
border town of Fotokol, according
to a military statement read out on
national television.
Chad sent a convoy of troops and
military vehicles into neighbouring
Cameroon on January 17 to deal
with the growing threat Boko
Haram poses in the region.
“The enemy was repelled by our
defensive forces,” the general
staff’s statement said, adding that
the troops had “routed” the
Islamists in the second attack.
The soldiers were killed by
improvised explosive devices, the
statement said.
A senior Cameroonian security
source said the Chadian troops
were deployed to the town, which
sits opposite a Nigerian town under
Boko Haram control and is also
close to the border with Chad, on
Wednesday.
Boko Haram frequently stages
attacks on Fotokol from their base
in the Nigerian town of Gamboru,
which is just 500 metres (yards)
away.
Chad has called on countries in the
region to form a broad coalition in
the fight against the Islamist group.
The country has already deployed
its army along its borders as well as
sending the additional contingent
to Cameroon.
Chad’s president Idriss Deby has
also expressed intentions of taking
back the strategic Nigerian town of
Baga from Boko Haram, situated on
Lake Chad.
The African Union called on Friday
for a regional five-nation force of
7,500 troops to defeat the
“horrendous” rise of Boko Haram.
“Terrorism, in particular the
brutality of Boko Haram against our
people, (is) a threat to our
collective safety, security and
development. This has now spread
to the region beyond Nigeria and
requires a collective, effective and
decisive response,” AU commission
chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said
in a speech opening the summit.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
told African leaders that Boko
Haram was “a clear danger to
national, regional and international
peace and security”.
The group’s uprising has become a
regional crisis, with the four
directly affected countries —
Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria
— agreeing along with Benin to
boost cooperation to contain the
threat and to form a Multinational
Joint Task Force.
More than 13,000 people have been
killed and more than one million
made homeless by Boko Haram
violence since 2009.
by ROTMANLUV 2023-07-08, 17:34
