Hundreds of Boko Haram fighters and their families have surrendered in Chad in the past month, security and UN sources said, in a sign the military campaign against them is making headway.
Boko Haram, which has killed and kidnapped thousands of people, had seized an area approximately the size of Belgium in northeastern Nigeria by last year but has since lost significant ground amid growing regional military pressure.
Analyst and security sources think the fighters are probably recent recruits that Boko Haram has struggled to retain as it has ceded territory. Defections of Boko Haram fighters have been reported in Nigeria but are not known to have previously occurred on such a large scale.
“They surrendered to our troops on the front line in Lake Chad,” said Col. Mohammad Dole, Chief Military Public Information Officer for the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) headquartered in Chad’s capital N’Djamena.
“The surrenders are taking place because of the firepower of our operations. The groups, many of them armed, have been arriving since September and their number keeps increasing,” he said.
Some 240 fighters, most off whom are Chadian, are now being held in detention along with their families, Dole said.
The MNJTF, with troops from Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and Benin and intelligence, training and logistical support from the United States, launched a regional operation in July against the group, which has pledged allegiance to Daesh.
It has since continued patrols around the waterways of Lake Chad — one of the world’s poorest regions whose villages were last year regularly struck by fighters, sometimes aboard canoes.
Around 2.6 million people have been displaced in the Lake Chad Basin where Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon meet.
Signs that regional armies are wresting back control of the Chadian part of the lake is significant since it had been a recruitment hub, even if the group never sought to conquer territory there, said Ryan Cummings, director of consultancy Signal Risk.
“Their presence in Chad was more for recruitment and for resources. Its strikes in the country were punitive,” he said, referring to revenge attacks on regional military heavyweight Chad, which has supplied 3,000 troops for the MNJTF.
Source: Arab News
GMT 11:19 2018 Thursday ,13 December
Nine killed, 47 injured as high-speed train crashes in TurkeyGMT 10:36 2018 Wednesday ,12 December
Strasbourg shooting leaves 3 dead, 12 injuredGMT 09:59 2018 Friday ,07 December
Death toll climbs to five after Santo Domingo factory explosionGMT 09:50 2018 Friday ,07 December
At least 18 Afghan soldiers killed in Taliban attackGMT 13:50 2018 Thursday ,06 December
Two found, five missing after US Marine aircraft collide off JapanGMT 16:27 2018 Sunday ,02 December
Villages evacuated as northern Australia fires flare in extreme heatGMT 08:16 2018 Thursday ,29 November
10 killed, 19 wounded in Taliban attack in KabulGMT 14:07 2018 Sunday ,18 November
About 15,000 people killed in Russian road accidents in 2018 so farMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor