Chad, Niger troops retake town from militants

Flip_flop_politics
Published on Apr 29, 2021
(19 Mar 2015) Soldiers from Niger and Chad have retaken the Nigerian town of Damasak from Boko Haram, another victory in a regional campaign to wrest back control of swathes of northeastern Nigeria from the Islamist militants.
Damasak, a few miles (kilometres) over the border from Niger, was retaken from militant control over the weekend a spokesman for Niger's army said on Wednesday.
In heavy fighting, 228 militants were killed and one soldier from Niger died, Ledru said.
As two Chadian helicopters landed with supplies, soldiers on the ground started chanting and displaying a Boko Haram flag torn down from a nearby building.
A group of Chadian troops transferred weapons confiscated from Boko Haram into a pickup truck. They were then taken to helicopters for transport to Niger.
The weapons included AK47 assault rifles and 50-calibre guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells.
The insurgents seized Damasak with little resistance on 24 November, when residents reported that the militants drove in flinging firebombs and improvised explosive devices.
Residents who fled across the border into Niger said dozens of people were killed and an unknown number of girls kidnapped.
Boko Haram has been fighting a six-year insurgency to create an Islamic state and had taken control of large parts of Nigeria's northeast during the past year.

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