Niger says it has killed “30 jihadists” and arrested 960



Jihadist-hit Niger final week killed about 30 members of the Boko Haram group and arrested 960 supporters, most of them ladies and kids, who fled neighboring Nigeria, official sources stated.

State broadcaster Tele Sahel stated late Tuesday that air surveillance on March 7 detected a “huge motion of individuals” alongside the Kamadougou Yoge River, which marks the border between the 2 international locations, heading in the direction of Lke Chad .

In response to the report, they had been members of the Boko Haram jihadist group who fled their hideout within the Sambisa forest in north-eastern Nigeria after being pressured by their rivals, the Islamic State of West Africa (ISWAP) province.

ISWAP broke away from Boko Haram in 2016 and rose to turn into the dominant group within the area’s long-running jihadist unrest.

It seized areas underneath Boko Haram management after chief Abubakar Shekau was killed in clashes with ISWAP in Could 2021.

To stop the group from reaching Lake Chad and utilizing its swamplands as a haven, the military tried to barter a give up, utilizing envoys and dropping leaflets, however finally launched a daybreak assault on March 11, Tele Sahel stated.

“Round 30 terrorists had been neutralized” and 960 others, most of them ladies and kids, had been arrested, taken to the city of Diffa and handed over to the Nigerian navy authorities, it stated.

An elected official in Tourour, a village close to the city of Bosso on the sting of Lake Chad, confirmed Wednesday that “massive numbers of Boko Haram” fleeing Zambisa had been intercepted on the Niger border and “handed over to Nigerian authorities.” “ have been.

One other official stated that many others, nevertheless, are “en path to (the islands) on the lake in appalling situations, particularly ladies and kids.”

Niger, one of many poorest international locations on the earth, is underneath assault by two jihadist insurgents.

One within the southwest arrived from neighboring Mali in 2015, whereas the opposite within the southeast is a long-running spin-off of Boko Haram’s marketing campaign in Nigeria.

The group’s violence has killed over 40,000 folks since 2009 and displaced round two million folks from their houses, in response to the United Nations.

The huge area of Lake Chad shared by Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad is a infamous loophole for Boko Haram and ISWAP, who arrange camps on islands of their swamplands.

The 4 international locations established a multinational joint activity power in 2015, which incorporates 8,500 folks, with the purpose of defeating the armed teams.