Deadly Boko Haram members have been shot dead in a brutal battle by Niger and Chad troops in the Diffa region of southeast Niger.
About thirty eight Boko Haram fighters were killed last week during military search operations carried out by Niger and Chad troops in the Diffa region of southeast Niger, an official said on Friday.
According to the Niger defence ministry spokesperson Moustapha Ledru, two soldiers were lightly wounded in the action and “on the enemy side; 38 terrorists killed,”
Ledru further revealed that the army recovered large quantities of weapons and munitions. The operations was conducted by a joint army of Niger and Chad troops between Monday and Wednesday around the villages of Gueskerou and Toumour in southeastern Niger.
According to villagers and NGO workers in Gueskerou, 30km from Diffa, Boko Haram elements attacked the town on Wednesday night, without killing anyone.
“The attack nonetheless caused a psychosis in the population” and “the assailants torched houses and stole food and medicines after pillaging shops and a pharmacy,” an NGO official told AFP.
The militant group’s insurgency has left at least 20000 people dead in Nigeria and border areas of neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon and made more than 2.6 million homeless.
