N’Djamena (AFP) – Four Chadian soldiers have been killed after a mine planted by Boko Haram Islamists destroyed their vehicle, a security source said on Saturday.
“An army car hit a mine planted by Boko Haram at Kaiga Kindji, near the border of Chad and Niger. There were four dead and a dozen wounded,” said the security source, who requested anonymity.
Friday’s bombing was the latest in a series of attacks on Chadian soldiers by Boko Haram militants, who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2015.
The Boko Haram insurgency has claimed more than 20,000 lives since it began its quest for a independent Islamist state in 2009 in northeast Nigeria.
The conflict has also spread to Niger, Chad and Cameroon, forcing more than 2.6 million people from their homes.
Troops from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Benin have been fighting the jihadists as part of regional efforts to end the violence in the Lake Chad region.
This force has made significant gains in recent months against Boko Haram, driving them out of some of the group’s Nigerian heartlands.
However, Boko Haram has continued to carry out suicide bombings and has retrenched to difficult-to-access areas such as the islands of Lake Chad.
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