Chadian forces scored a key victory over Boko
Haram on Tuesday, wresting control of the border town of Gamboru within hours
of launching a ground offensive against the jihadist group.
Around 2,000 Chadian troops backed by
armoured vehicles crossed the border into Gamboru from the Cameroonian town of
Fotokol after days of clashes with the insurgents.
By Tuesday evening, the troops had taken
control of the town, according to an AFP journalist in Gamboru, leaving scenes
of desolation, with houses destroyed, shops gutted and trucks charred.
The residents and remaining fighters appeared
to have fled.
No official death toll from the fighting was
immediately available. A Chadian military source said eight Chadian soldiers
were killed and around 20 injured.
The AFP journalist saw bodies lying on the
ground.
“We have routed this group of terrorists,”
the commander of the Chadian contingent Ahmat Dari told AFP, vowing to continue
the fight against the insurgents “until the end”.
The ground intervention by Chad came after
the African Union last week backed a regional five-nation, 7,500-strong force
to take on the extremists amid growing fears about their threat to regional
security.
Nigeria has drawn fierce criticism for
failing to hold back the insurgents, who have stepped up their campaign of
terror in country’s northeast in the run-up to presidential and parliamentary
elections on February 14.
Defence spokesman Chris Olukolade denied that
the presence of foreign troops on Nigerian soil compromised the country’s
sovereignty.
“Nigeria’s territorial integrity remains
intact,” he defended, claiming national forces had “planned and are driving the
present onslaught against terrorists from all fronts in Nigeria, not the
Chadian forces.”
Chad’s intervention reflects the growing
nervousness among Nigeria’s neighbours over the prospect of Boko Haram
achieving its stated aim of carving out an Islamic caliphate on their borders.
The rebels have tried, in vain, to capture
the strategic northeastern Nigerian town of Maiduguri twice in the past week.
On Monday, President Goodluck Jonathan — who
is running for re-election against a former military ruler who has vowed to
defeat Boko Haram — escaped a suspected suicide bomb attack after attending a
campaign rally in Gombe in the northeast.
Eighteen people were reported injured in the
attack believed to have been carried out by two female suicide bombers.
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