92 Chad Soldiers Killed In Boko Haram’s Deadliest Attack To Date

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At least 92 Chad soldiers were killed in the deadliest-ever attack by Boko Haram, Nigerian President Idriss Deby said on March 24^th.

“We lost 92 of our soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers,” the president said of the attack overnight on Sunday in Boma.

“It’s the first time we have lost so many men,” he added, after visiting the site of the incident in Lac province, which borders Niger and Nigeria.

In 7 hours, #BokoHaram jihadists killed 92 #Chadian soldiers during raid on an island army base in marshy Lake Chad area bordering Cameroon.

In Maidguri, Boko Haram extremists killed at least 50 #Nigerian soldiers in an ambush near Goneri village in northern Yobe state. pic.twitter.com/1YgJRFNQGt

— Rogers Atukunda (@rarrigz) March 25, 2020

#Chad: 92 soldiers killed and 47 injured following #Bokoharam claimed attack against army base in Boma island in Lake Chad. This is one of deadliest against Chadian army. #Sahel https://t.co/Uheo6hkztK pic.twitter.com/lPYOedEoir

— Happening Now (@HappeningNow__) March 25, 2020

pls pray for those, our military brothers that are under #Bokoharam Custody ??
???????
.@MBuhari they need prayer ??
Try and watch pic.twitter.com/g8o1tOhRsN

— SSG☠️ (@Affan1030) March 20, 2020

The attack on soldiers on the Boma peninsula lasted at least seven hours and reinforcements sent to help out were also hit, one soldier told AFP news agency.

According to him, 24 army vehicles were destroyed, including armoured vehicles and Boko Haram carried off weapons stolen from the military in speedboats.

“The enemy has hit at our defences hard in this zone,” a senior officer said.

The attack is part of an expanding armed campaign in the vast, marshy Lake Chad area, where the borders of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria converge.

Separately, Nigeria’s military reported that scores of Nigerian soldiers were also killed in the northeastern state of Borno near the border with Chad.

At least 50 soldiers were killed in an ambush by Boko Haram.

“The Nigerian military suffered some casualties in the unfortunate attack,” defence ministry spokesman John Enenche told journalists in the capital, Abuja.

The ambush occurred near the town of Goneri in eastern Borno State on March 23^rd, according to Enenche.

“The army is saying the situation has subsided,” Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris reported from Abuja.

“After the attack they called in the air force and raided the position of the fighters and succeeded in killing all of them – although the military here did not give the actual number of Boko Haram fighters that were killed.”

The attack, one of the deadliest against troops recently, came as the military tried to launch an offensive against the armed group that began on March 21-23^rd, an unnamed military official with knowledge of the operation told The Associated Press.

Boko Haram fighters inflicted heavy casualties by firing on the vehicles with rocket-propelled grenades and assault weapons, he said. Those who survived are being treated at hospitals in Damaturu and Maiduguri.

According to state Turkish outlet Anadolu Agency, Nigerian military forces have killed about 200 Boko Haram militants during a clearance and consolidation operation on in the volatile northeast region.

In a statement, Maj. Gen. John Enenche, coordinator at the Directorate of Nigerian Defence Media Operations, said troops also suffer some casualties in a reprisal during a successful operation against the militants at Alagarno, a Boko Haram enclave in Borno state, conducted on March 21-23^rd.

The defeat of Boko Haram was announced by Nigeria back in August 2019, and it’s quite apparent that the terror group is alive and kicking.

MORE ON THE TOPIC:

• Nigeria Announces Defeat of Boko Haram, 1 Day After Attack Attributed to the Group Leaves 65 Dead
• Sahel’s Impending Descent Into Chaos: 24 Killed In Terror Attack in Burkina Faso

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