Troops from Chad, Niger retake Damasak from Boko Haram

Damasak — Waving a captured black and white
militant flag, soldiers from Niger and Chad on
Wednesday celebrated their liberation of Damasak
from Boko Haram extremists.
It is another victory in a regional campaign to wrest
back swaths of northeast Nigeria from the Islamist
militants.
Damasak, just a few miles over the border from
Niger, was liberated over the weekend, Colonel
Michel Ledru, a spokesman for Niger's army, said
Wednesday.
In heavy fighting, 228 militants were killed and one
soldier from Niger died, Ledru said. Vehicles and
motor cycles riddled with bullets littered the streets.
An Associated Press photographer in the town said
it was largely deserted of civilians on Wednesday.
Four people, including an old man, came onto the
street to wave at a convoy among 2,000 troops from
Niger and Chad in the town.
There were still signs of the town's occupation by the
militants. Their writings were scrawled on every wall
and the extremists' black and white flag still flew
above some buildings.
Also read: UN seeks to endorse military action
against Boko Haram
As two Chadian helicopters landed with supplies,
soldiers on the ground started chanting and
displaying their catch: A Boko Haram flag torn down
from a nearby building.
On the outskirts of town, hundreds of troops have
set up camp. Some soldiers hid from the 45-degree
heat in the shade to their tanks. Some used their
helmets to grind grain for a meal. A few did laundry
while others cooked food.
It was all work for a group of Chadian troops who
transferred weapons captured from Boko Haram to
a pickup truck that drove it to the helicopters for
transport back to Niger: AK47 assault rifles and 50-
caliber guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar
shells.
"Boko Haram is far now, very far," said one soldier.
The insurgents had seized Damasak with little
resistance on November 24, when residents
reported that the militants drove in flinging
firebombs and improvised explosive devices.
Thousands of residents who fled across the border
into Niger said dozens of people were killed and an
unknown number of girls kidnapped.
Boko Haram has been fighting a six-year insurgency
to create an Islamic state and had taken control of
large parts of Nigeria's northeast in the past year. It
became notorious internationally after kidnapping
more than 200 schoolgirls last April.
But in recent months, Nigeria has stepped up its
campaign against the militants, and, with the help of
a regional force that includes Niger and Chad, has
retaken dozens of towns.

hmmm

Kudos to them.

Do not just take over from them but kill all the boko harams

Lolz, not an easy task bro.

it's gradually

Yeah

nah so,nah small small dey go catch dem all

I think u said u get juju ?

what shall we say?...cool r what

Just say anythin bro