Cameroon pushes Boko Haram fighters back to Nigeria

Cameroonian officials have said Boko Haram fighters who attacked a town in the far north killing nearly 100 people have retreated to Nigeria.

Government spokesman, Issa Tchiroma Bakary said, on Friday, that Cameroonian soldiers, assisted by Chadian forces, successfully chased hundreds of the Islamic extremists out of the town of Fotokol.

Boko Haram’s assault inside Cameroon marked an escalation by the Nigerian-based militants who are blamed for killing more than 10,000 people last year.

After being bombed out of several Nigerian towns, hundreds of Boko Haram fighters responded by attacking Fotokol in Cameroon, razing mosques and churches and warning the country’s authorities not to join the battle against their insurgency.

Last week, African leaders authorized a 7,500-strong force to fight the extremists, including pledges of troops from Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin.

Meanwhile, Boko Haram, for the first time, launched an attack in Niger on Friday, striking at the town of Bosso just across the border from Nigeria, witnesses said.

Fighting broke out around 9:00 am (0800 GMT) but troops pushed back the attack by the end of the morning, said Yacouba Soumana Gaoh, governor of the regional capital of Diffa.

“Order has been restored,” he told Agence France Presse (AFP) at 1200 GMT. “We could hear the sound of weapons all around the town, often very near our windows. There was the noise of heavy weapons and of light arms, making our houses shake,” one resident told AFP.

Niger’s army took on the Nigerian armed jihadists alongside troops from Chad who have been stationed in Bosso since Monday, a humanitarian worker said, stating that Boko Haram “took the municipality” for a time before being “driven back to Nigeria.”

However, the governor said that only Nigerien troops fought back the raid, while the Chadians were stationed at a distance. “It was like a race across the town,” the resident said. “As the fighting drew near, we heard cries of ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is Greater). We heard an aircraft fly over the town.

“We even saw smoke coming up from the town hall and the prefect’s office, where heavy gunfire was heard,” he added in the Hausa language, asking not to be named. “It’s quiet now, but we’re staying home.” Niger’s parliament in the capital, Niamey, is due to vote on Monday on a proposal to send troops to Nigeria to fight Boko Haram, as impetus to beat the jihadists mounts across the region.

In another development, Nigeria and Chad have deployed over 7,500 troops to confront the Boko Haram terrorists in the North Eastern part of the country. The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh announced this on Friday after about six hours meeting with the Chadian Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Brahim Said Mahamat in Abuja.

According to him, “Chad is bringing about 2,500 soldiers, Nigeria, we have 5,000 and that is what we have there, the contribution from Cameroun I am not very sure of that for now”.

The CDS, said “the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Nigeria has with Niger is that they are on their own side, so that the Boko Haram or the enemies won’t have the opportunity to run into Niger to cause havoc for them.

“We have signed an MOU after withdrawal of Nigerien troops from Baga, the grey areas are operational and we have just sorted that one out” The Chadian Chief of Defence Staff said that their visit was to discuss with their Nigerian colleagues, the issue of Boko Haram and how they would coordinate and probably eradicate it.

“As you are aware, our forces are already on the ground, we had before now already engaged the insurgents. And the essence of our visit is to see how we will relate and see how we’ll destroy this insurgency that is not only in our region but “the entire sub region.”

He announced that the Chadian forces are on Nigerian territory, they are mostly at the border now of Fotokol and Gambary ingala, on the basis of the bilateral agreement “we have been working together since, and they came in now to clear some grey areas, that is what we have done, and we have just made an addendum to the MOU that we signed on the 18th of January.”