The Nigerian army last week killed “around thirty terrorists” from the jihadist group Boko Haram and arrested 960 others, including women and children, who had fled neighboring Nigeria, official sources told AFP on Wednesday.
A military aerial reconnaissance made it possible to observe “a massive movement of individuals” along the Komadougou Yobé River – which marks the Niger-Nigeria border – towards Lake Chad on March 7, public television Télé Sahel said Tuesday night.
Aerial photos of columns of people walking in the bush or swimming across a stream were captured on TV and broadcast at Niger Defense Ministry and Presidency sites on Wednesday.
According to the report, they were Boko Haram members who came from the Sambissa forest in north-eastern Nigeria and traveled to the Nigerian Sea Islands to flee heavy fighting with their Islamic State in Africa (Iswap) rivals.
“An operation was launched” and “about thirty terrorists were neutralized” before “the enemy could reach Lake Chad,” according to Télé Sahel.
Before the attack began around 6am (5am GMT) on March 11, the army had tried “unsuccessfully” to “negotiate a bloodless surrender” via emissaries and the dropping of leaflets.
In addition, between March 7 and March 11, 960 people, “mostly women and children,” were arrested and taken to Diffa, the major city in southeastern Niger, where they were taken care of before being handed over to Nigerian military authorities, the television said.
“A large number of Boko Haram members fleeing Sambissa forest were intercepted by the military at the Nigerian border last week and then handed over to Nigerian authorities,” an elected official from Toumour told AFP Lake Chad.
Without giving the number, another elected official confirmed that “many” others “are going to (the islands) of the lake, particularly groups of women and children in deplorable conditions.”
Stretching between Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad, the Lake Chad basin is a vast expanse of water and swamp where the jihadist groups Boko Haram and Iswap have set up hideouts on the myriad islands of the bowl.
Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon established the 8,500-strong Multinational Mixed Force (MMF) in July 2015 to fight against armed jihadist groups.