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In Lake Chad, Niger army kills 33 Boko Haram terrorists

Wednesday, 13 March 2019 3:13 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 13 March 2019 3:18 PM ]

The file photo shows Niger's soldiers in Diffa, September 3, 2015. (By Reuters)

More than 30 Boko Haram Takfiri terrorists have been killed in an operation by Niger’s army in the Lake Chad region.

"Offensive actions carried out on Tuesday inflicted heavy losses on the enemy," Niger’s Defense Ministry said in a statement read on state television on Wednesday.

"Thirty-three terrorists (were) killed."

The ministry added that an "armored vehicle" was destroyed, while two other vehicles, two motorcycles, a 120-millimeter mortar, 10 AK-47 assault rifles, two 60mm shells and 3,736 rounds of all calibres were seized.

The offensive reportedly kicked off on March 9, a day after seven police and 38 militants were killed near Gueskerou in the southeastern region of Diffa, which borders Boko Haram’s stronghold in northeastern Nigeria.

Some 27,000 people have been killed and about two million others displaced since the beginning of Boko Haram's acts of terror in Nigeria in 2009.

In 2015, the militants pledged allegiance to the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.

Boko Haram has spread its attacks from northeastern Nigeria, its traditional stronghold, to the neighboring countries of Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

On February 16, the militants killed seven Nigerien soldiers in an attack on their post in the border village of Chetima Wangou.

Niger’s army announced in January that it had killed nearly 290 militants from Boko Haram during an offensive near the country’s southeast border with Nigeria.

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