Gamboru (Nigeria) (AFP) – Chad
said Wednesday it inflicted heavy losses on Nigeria’s Boko Haram, killing “over
200″ Islamist militants in a border town that it wrested from the rebels in a
ground offensive.
Nine Chadian soldiers were
also killed and 21 injured Tuesday in Gamboru as regional forces took the fight
against the insurgents on to Nigerian soil for the first time, the Chadian army
said.
“This toll is provisional,”
the Chadian military said in a statement, adding that troops were still combing
the town on Nigeria’s border with Cameroon for lingering rebel elements.
Around 2,000 Chadian troops
backed by armoured vehicles poured across the border into Gamboru on Tuesday
after the African Union last week backed a regional force to take on the
extremists.
The sound of automatic gunfire
could heard Wednesday in the town, which has been abandoned by residents after
a barrage of air strikes by Chad in the run-up to its offensive, an AFP
journalist reported.
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