200 Dead as Regional Forces Battle Boko Haram
Local Editor
Chad said Wednesday it inflicted heavy losses on Nigeria's Boko Haram, killing "over 200" militants in a border town that it wrested from the rebels in a ground offensive.
Nine Chadian soldiers were also killed and 21 injured Tuesday in Gamboru as regional forces took the fight against the insurgents on to Nigerian soil for the first time, the Chadian army said.
"This toll is provisional," the Chadian military said in a statement, adding that troops were still combing the town on Nigeria's border with Cameroon for lingering rebel elements.
Around 2,000 Chadian troops backed by armored vehicles poured across the border into Gamboru Tuesday after the African Union last week backed a regional force to take on the extremists.
The sound of automatic gunfire could heard Wednesday in the town, which has been abandoned by residents after a barrage of airstrikes by Chad in the run-up to its offensive.
While the operation in Gamboru continued, the town of Fotokol on the other side of the border, in Cameroon, came under fresh attack from the extremists.
"The guys [Boko Haram] entered this morning. The fighting between them and our soldiers is very intense," a Cameroonian security source in Fotokol said.
The Cameroonian troops had managed to repel the attack by mid-morning, after Chadian soldiers crossed back from Nigeria to help defend the town.
In Gamboru, the clashes left scenes of desolation, with bodies lying on the ground, houses destroyed, shops gutted and trucks charred.
"We have routed this band of terrorists," the commander of the Chadian contingent Ahmat Dari stressed Tuesday, vowing to "hunt them down everywhere."
Nigeria's military has drawn fierce criticism for failing to hold back the insurgents, who have stepped up their campaign of terror in country's northeast in the run-up to presidential and parliamentary elections Feb.14.
In recent months the group has also carried out increasing cross-border raids, threatening regional security.
Chad's intervention reflects the growing nervousness among Nigeria's neighbors over the prospect of Boko Haram achieving its stated aim of carving out an Islamic caliphate on their borders.
Nigerian defense spokesman Chris Olukolade denied that the presence of foreign troops on Nigerian soil compromised the country's sovereignty.
"Nigeria's territorial integrity remains intact," he said, claiming national forces had "planned and are driving the present onslaught against terrorists from all fronts in Nigeria, not the Chadian forces."
Regional forces have gone into action on several fronts.
Chadian troops and vehicles have massed near Boko Haram-held towns along Nigeria's border with Niger, pointing the way to another possible cross-border operation.
"A contingent of about 400 vehicles and tanks is stationed between Mamori and Bosso," Niger's private radio Anfani reported.
France is supporting the operations by carrying out reconnaissance flights over border areas of Chad and Cameroon, defense officials in Paris said.
At least 13,000 people have been killed and more than a million forced from their homes since Boko Haram launched an insurgency in 2009.
The group has stepped up its attacks in recent weeks, in a move believed to be aimed at disrupting the elections.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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