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NIGER-UNREST-BOKOHARAM
Niger says it killed 33 Boko Haram ‘terrorists’
NIAMEY, March 13, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Niger said Wednesday it had killed 33
Boko Haram “terrorists” and seized vehicles and weapons in an operation in
the Lake Chad region in the country’s southeast.
“Offensive actions carried out on Tuesday inflicted heavy losses on the
enemy,” a defence ministry statement read on state television said.
“Thirty-three terrorists (were) killed” while there were no losses on
the army’s side, it said.
An “armoured vehicle” was destroyed, while two other vehicles, two
motorcycles, a 120-millimetre mortar, 10 AK-47 assault rifles, two 60mm
shells and 3,736 rounds of all calibres were seized, it said.
The operation began on Saturday, it said — a day after seven police and
38 jihadists were killed near Gueskerou in the southeastern region of Diffa,
according to a government toll.
Diffa borders the birthplace of Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria and
has suffered a string of cross-border raids and population displacement.
An estimated 27,000 people have been killed and two million others
displaced since Boko Haram launched its insurgency in 2009.
Lake Chad, which straddles parts of Niger, Nigeria and Chad, has borne
the brunt of the jihadists’ hit-and-run attacks.
In November, around a dozen girls were taken in raids on several border
villages, while seven local employees of a French drilling firm and a
government official were killed after suspected Boko Haram gunmen stormed
their compound.
On February 16, seven Nigerien soldiers were killed in an attack on the
border village of Chetima Wangou.
A year-end government offensive, combining land and air forces, killed
more than 280 militants, Niger’s armed forces maintained on January 3.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1805HRS