MAROUA, Cameroon/MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian forces have killed more than 300 Boko Haram fighters during an operation to recapture 11 towns and villages since the start of the week, the military said on Wednesday, as regional neighbours also pounded the militants.
"Weapons and equipment were also captured and some
destroyed," defence spokesman Major-General Chris Olukolade said in a
statement. "However, two soldiers lost their lives while 10 others were
wounded," he added.
It was not possible to independently verify the military's
statement. Nigerian forces have in past been accused of overstating
enemy casualties while greatly understating their own and those of
civilians caught in the crossfire.
Cameroonian forces supported by Chad's air force carried
out air strikes and used heavy artillery against Boko Haram in the
village of Gourgouroon, on the Nigeria-Cameroon border, Cameroon army
spokesman Colonel Didier Badjeck said.
Boko Haram's
relentless attacks on military and civilians have killed thousands since
the group launched its violent campaign for a breakaway Islamic state
in mid-2009, threatening the stability of Africa's biggest economy and
top oil producer as well as that of the entire region.
Boko Haram was cited as a reason for postponing by six
weeks a Nigerian presidential election that had been due to take place
this past Saturday. In a video on Tuesday, Boko Haram leader Abubakar
Shekau appeared in a video monitored by the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence
Group in which he threatened to disrupt the upcoming vote.
But in the past two weeks the tide has appeared to turn
against them, as neighbours Chad, Cameroon and Niger, all of whom are
plagued by Boko Haram insurgents, have weighed in.
VICTORIES
Nigerian soldiers recaptured the strategic town of
Monguno, on the shores of Lake Chad where the four countries meet, from
Boko Haram on Monday. More than 5,000 people fled the town after the
insurgents seized it last month.
Olukolade said troops had seized five types of armoured
fighting vehicles, an anti-aircraft gun, 50 cases of bombs, eight
different types of machine guns, some 50 cases of ammunition and 300
motorcycles the rebels use to launch attacks.
Chadian troops cleared Boko Haram out of Nigeria's Gamburu
earlier this month. Niger soldiers shot dead a suicide bomber suspected
of belonging to Islamist militant group Boko Haram on Monday after he
tried to detonate an explosive belt near a military post in the southern
Niger town of Bagara.
Violence in the northeast has hurt the re-election prospects of
President Goodluck Jonathan, accused of doing too little to protect
civilians from the militants, although recent victories could swing
public opinion in his favour.
The growing cooperation between Nigeria's neighbours is
also attracting donor support to fight the Islamists, with the U.S. army
providing equipment and intelligence to allies.
Presidents from the 10-nation Economic Community of
Central African States (CEEAC) pledged on Monday to create an emergency
fund of 50 billion CFA francs ($87 million) to the fight.