Fotokol (Cameroon) (AFP) - Nigerian Boko Haram fighters went on the
rampage in the Cameroonian border town of Fotokol Wednesday, massacring
dozens of
civilians and torching a mosque before being repelled by
regional forces.
The onslaught came a day after
Chad sent troops across the border to flush the jihadists out of the
Nigerian town of Gamboru, which lies some 500 metres (yards) from
Fotokol on the other side of a bridge.
Chad's
army said it had killed more than 200 Boko Haram militants in the
intervention -- the first by regional forces against Boko Haram on its
home ground. But some of the insurgents escaped, it added.
On
the Cameroonian side of the border, the Boko Haram assault on Fotokol
left nearly 70 civilians and six Cameroonian soldiers dead, a local
security source told AFP.
There were also Boko Haram bodies "everywhere," the source added.
"Boko
Haram inflicted so much damage here this morning. They have killed
dozens of people," Umar Babakalli, a resident of Fotokol, told AFP by
telephone.
Several residents said civilians' throats were slit and that the town's main mosque was torched.
"They burnt houses and killed civilians as well as soldiers," a source close to security forces said.
After
several hours of clashes Cameroonian troops, backed by Chadian forces
who scrambled back from Nigeria to help guard the town, managed to repel
the assault.
No official death toll was immediately available.
On Tuesday, nine Chadian
soldiers were killed and 21 were injured in Gamboru after around 2,000
troops backed by armoured vehicles poured across the border to take the
fight to Boko Haram after days of clashes.
The sound of automatic gunfire could still be heard in the town later Wednesday as troops sought remaining rebel elements.
The
intervention came days after the African Union backed plans for a
7,500-strong five-nation regional force to take on the extremists, who
control vast swathes of northeast Nigeria.
- 'Hunt them everywhere' -
Nigeria's
military has drawn fierce criticism for failing to rein in the
insurgents, who have stepped up their campaign of terror in the
northeast in the run-up to presidential and parliamentary elections on
February 14.
In recent months
Boko Haram, which aims to establish an Islamic caliphate, has also
carried out increasing cross-border raids, threatening regional
security.
Viewing the
widening field of Boko Haram activity a direct threat to its national
interests, Chad has deployed its war-tested army to join the fight
against the extremists, and has reportedly now entered Nigeria in at
least two places.
According
to several sources, Chad has also amassed forces and hundreds of
vehicles along the border area between Nigeria and Niger -- a zone not
far from Boko Haram's stronghold.
N'Djamena
has not yet officially confirmed its troop movement into Niger, but it
is now thought Chad may be positioning its forces to be able to trap
Boko Haram in pincer offensives launched simultaneously from the north
and south.
In Gamboru, the
offensive, which was preceded by days of Chadian air strikes, had left
scenes of desolation, with bodies lying on the ground, houses destroyed,
shops gutted and trucks charred.
"We have routed this band of
terrorists," the commander of the Chadian contingent Ahmat Dari told AFP
Tuesday, vowing to "hunt them down everywhere."
- Nigerian sovereignty 'intact' -
Nigeria has reacted defensively to the presence of foreign troops on its soil.
"Nigeria's
territorial integrity remains intact," defence spokesman Chris
Olukolade insisted, claiming national forces had "planned and are
driving the present onslaught against terrorists from all fronts in
Nigeria, not the Chadian forces".
France is also supporting the
operations by carrying out reconnaissance flights over border areas of
Chad and Cameroon to provide them with intelligence, defence officials
in Paris said.
At least 13,000 people have been killed and more
than a million forced from their homes since Boko Haram launched an
insurgency in 2009.
The group has stepped up its attacks in recent weeks, in a move believed to be aimed at disrupting the elections.
The rebels have tried, in vain, to capture the strategic northeastern town of Maiduguri twice in the past week.
In January the militants carried out a massacre in a town on Lake Chad that houses a regional military base.
Hundreds of civilians were reported killed in the attack, according to Amnesty International
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the comment writers alone and does not reflect or represent the views of StaffyXCLUSIVE.