Dozens dead in fighting between Chad soldiers, Boko Haram

Fighting between Chad soldiers and Boko Haram jihadists killed dozens, including 63 “terrorists”, in an overnight attack on a military base, an army spokesman said Monday.

Seven soldiers were killed and 15 wounded when “the terrorists attacked our forces at midnight in Bouhama… in the Lake Chad region,” Colonel Azem Bermandoa said.

He added “63 terrorists were killed” and the search for other attackers continued.

Chad’s Defence Minister Daoud Yaya Brahim and army chief of staff Taher Erda were on their way to the scene of the fighting Monday to “evaluate the situation,” said Azem.

Last month, 23 soldiers were killed in the Lake Chad region in the deadliest attack yet on the Chadian army by Boko Haram, which launched an insurgency in Nigeria a decade ago.

The unrest has spread to neighbouring Niger and Chad with the Boko Haram revolt claiming more than 27,000 lives and uprooting more than 1.7 million people.

Troops from Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria have been grouped into a mixed, multi-national force to fight Boko Haram.

Since June last year, Boko Haram has struck inside Chad at least seven times.