Boko Haram: Niger Army Neutralizes A Rebel Attack Near Lake Chad

Up to 40 Boko Haram insurgents were killed on Tuesday night by soldiers of the Nigerien army on an island in Lake Chad, on the borders of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Defence, an estimated 100 Boko Haram fighters arrived on the island in four large dugout canoes and an armed boat on the night of 24 to 25 May. The statement shared that the rebels attempted action in force against the soldiers on the islands of Lake Chad.

It said that “the energetic reaction of the latter forced the assailants to flee with several deaths in their ranks. A “combing mission” in the area “allowed the neutralisation of about forty fighters” and several weapons, ammunition and explosives, as well as “various military materials” were recovered.

Also, seven Nigerien soldiers were injured when their vehicle “on a reconnaissance mission on the outskirts of Lake Chad” jumped on an improvised explosive device (IED), the ministry said, but did not specify the date of the accident.

It assures that “the troops engaged in Operation Lake Sanity (Operation Lake Integrity) continue to control the enemy zones conquered on the islands of Lake Chad.

The Chadian, Cameroonian, Nigerian and Nigerian troops of the Joint Military Force (JFM) launched in March a new coordinated offensive in the four countries, called Operation Lake Integrity, whose objective is to “destroy Boko Haram and other terrorist groups that are scouring the Lake Chad Basin”, a senior official of the JFM, whose headquarters is based in N’Djamena, explained in early May.