Soldiers from Chad kill 207 Boko Haram militants in border clash

Soldiers from the Chadian Army crossed into Nigeria Wednesday and re-took Malam Fatori town from Boko Haram militants. Photo: Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

Soldiers from Chad clashed with elements of Nigerian radical Islamist group Boko Haram in a Nigerian border town.

According to Reuters, the fighting took place near the town of Garambu, which is situated close to the Nigerian/Cameroon border. 

The Chadian Army claimed to have killed 207 Boko Haram militants with only one casualty on its side. The Chadian Army reportedly seized from the militants a large cache of weapons and ammunition together with a pair of pick up trucks.

Reuters said that Chad's claim was not immediately verified.

Chad is a major player in the escalating regional conflict with the Islamist group, which has terrorised Nigeria's northeastern region since 2009 and recently expanded its attacks to border towns in Niger, Cameroon and Chad.

Chad sent thousands of soldiers to the Cameroon-Nigeria border following Boko Haram's first recent incursions into Cameroon, and was involved in an early February offensive with Nigeria and Cameroon that reclaimed the towns of Mafa, Mallam Fatori, Abadam, Marte and Gamboru from the extremist group.

Its significant role in the multi-regional offensive resulted in a Boko Haram attack on the Chadian town of Ngouboua on February 13. According to the BBC, a group of around 30 Boko Haram Islamists crossed Lake Chad in motorboats to carry out the attack that resulted in the death of a local village chief and five Chadian soldiers. They managed to burn several residents' homes before the military responded with infantry and airstrikes, eventually pushing the militants back.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau directly threatened Chad's president, Idriss Deby, in a video in which he challenged the new multinational task force to face his Islamist fighters.

Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon, together with Nigeria's western neighbour, Benin, have formed a multinational task force composed of a total of 8,000 soldiers to combat the growing threat of the radical Islamist group.

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