Boko Haram kills 92 Chadian soldiers in seven-hour attack

Ninety-two Chadian soldiers have been killed in the
deadliest attack ever by Boko Haram jihadists on armed forces in the country,
President Idriss Déby Itno said on Tuesday.
The attack is part of an expanding jihadist campaign
in the vast, marshy Lake Chad area, where the borders of Cameroon, Chad, Niger
and Nigeria converge.
Boko Haram launched an insurgency in Nigeria in 2009
before beginning incursions in its neighbouring countries to the east.
“We lost 92 of our soldiers, non-commissioned
officers and officers,” in the attack overnight on Sunday in Boma, the
president said.
“It’s the first time we have lost so many men,” he
added, after visiting the site of the attack in the Lac province, which borders
Niger and Nigeria.
The attack on soldiers on the Boma peninsula lasted
at least seven hours, and reinforcements sent to help out were also targeted,
one soldier told AFP.
He said 24 army vehicles were destroyed, including
armoured vehicles, and captured military arms were carried off in speedboats by
Boko Haram.
“The enemy has hit at our defences hard in this
zone,” a senior officer said.
Boko Haram has stepped up its attacks in recent
months on the islands of the Lake Chad basin.
Boko Haram’s insurgency has killed 36,000 people and
displaced nearly two million in northeastern Nigeria since it began, according
to the UN.
Since 2015, countries in the region have cooperated
in the Multinational Joint Force, a regional coalition engaged around Lake Chad
with the help of local residents formed into vigilante groups.