Troops from Niger and Chad have launched a military offensive against the Islamist group Boko Haram in Nigeria, retaking the north-eastern town of Damasak, a Nigerien military source said Monday.
Damasak had been held by Boko Haram since November 2014. Its capture could not be independently verified.
Dozens of soldiers were reported to have been injured. Military sources in Niger said about 200 Boko Haram fighters were killed.
The troops launched the operation from Bosso in the south-east of Niger and from Diffa, the main town in the region. It is the first joint operation by the two countries in Nigeria, though troops from Chad have crossed the border in the past to take on Boko Haram.
Witnesses in Diffa said they saw hundreds of military vehicles cross a bridge into Nigeria and reported gunfire, which subsided into occasional shots during the course of the morning.
At least 2,000 Chadian soldiers were participating in the operation, local journalist Issa Ibrahim estimated. The number of Nigerien troops was not known, but the country’s parliament has approved the participation of 750 troops in the fight against Boko Haram.
The operation came just after Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Islamic State extremist group.
A court martial, meanwhile, opened in Lagos to try 23 senior military officers accused of misconduct in the fight against Boko Haram, a defence attorney said.
They were “charged on different counts” and pleaded not guilty, said the lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The charges reportedly included negligence and cowardice, and some of them can carry the death penalty.
The African Union has endorsed the creation of a regional force numbering more than 8,000 troops to combat Boko Haram.
The extremists have killed more than 13,000 people in Nigeria since 2009 and have also launched cross-border raids into Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
GNA
