The joint African force deployed in the Lake Chad Basin confirmed that at least 30 people were killed on both sides because of clashes with Islamist militants in the region.
The "Multinational Joint Task Force" (MNJTF), which includes soldiers from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, and Chad, announced, according to "AFP", that it carried out a "successful" operation that lasted three days on the Nigerian side of the border, with air support provided by forces from Niger and Nigeria. And with "critical support from American partners."
The African force explained that the first phase of the operation was launched in the Malam Fatori region, and the second in the regions of Arigi, Jashiger, Asaga, and Kamagunma.
The force stated that during the operation that ended last Tuesday, the joint forces killed at least 22 militants, destroyed four vehicles and motorcycles, and confiscated Kalashnikov assault rifles, in addition to destroying artillery positions directed towards the city of Diffa in southeastern Niger.
On the other hand, the African joint force acknowledged the killing of six of its members (they are four Nigerian soldiers and two others from Niger), and 23 others were slightly wounded during the operation.
On the eighteenth of December, the Malian Foreign Ministry announced that Chad intends to deploy another thousand soldiers in Mali to reinforce its forces fighting rebels in the country, at a time when France reduces its military presence in the African Sahel.
Chad participates with nearly 1,400 soldiers in the 13,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force stationed in northern and central Mali, where a "jihadist" insurgency is strengthening despite the nine-year effort of international forces to contain it.
Follow the latest news on Google News
