Islamist
militant group Boko Haram has killed at least 10 people in a town in
northeast Nigeria, two security sources told Reuters on Thursday.
The
sources said Boko Haram attacked a settlement on the way into the
centre of Gamboru, on the border with Cameroon, on Wednesday afternoon.
The nearby village of Ngala was also attacked.
Gambaru,
near Lake Chad, had been captured from the militants by Chadian troops
last month. On Tuesday the Nigerian army said it had repelled Boko Haram
from all but three districts of the northeast, less than two weeks
before a presidential election.
Boko Haram has killed thousands
of people in a six-year insurgency to carve out an Islamic state in
northeastern Nigeria. The group, which until the start of this year
controlled territory the size of Belgium, has been squeezed back in the
run-up to the March 28 poll, in which President Goodluck Jonathan will
seek re-election.
Olu Adejuwon, staying in the Cameroonian town
of Fotokol which is separated from Gambaru by a river, said he had heard
gunshots on Wednesday afternoon that continued for a long time. “There
was a gun battle with some Cameroon soldiers,” he said.
Chadian troops, who had pushed as far as Dikwa in Nigeria’s northeast Borno state, pulled back last week into Fotokol.
Nigeria,
Chad, Cameroon and Niger are in the process of planning and seeking
United Nations backing for a joint 10,000-strong force to defeat the
insurgents, though coordination has been disjointed and plagued by
mistrust and rivalry.
Credit: Channels
No comments:
Post a Comment