Boko Haram launches first attack in Chad

Nigeria’s Boko Haram rebels carried out their first attack inside neighbouring Chad, targeting a village on the shores of Lake Chad as part of a widening insurgency that has sucked in four countries. The Islamist fighters crossed the vast lake by boat under cover of darkness to attack the village of Nougboua, across the water from the Nigerian town of Baga. Two-thirds of Ngouboua, which has become a sanctuary for Nigerians fleeing attacks by Boko Haram, was torched in the onslaught, a security source said.

They started firing on everything that moved.

Chadian army spokesperson Azem Bermandoa Agoun

Chadian forces, backed by military aircraft, returned fire, routing the militants and destroying their vessels, the source said. Chadian officials reported one civilian - the village chief - and one soldier killed, with a further four troops wounded. Two Boko Haram fighters were also killed and five injured, N’Djamena said. The security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, gave a higher Chadian death toll of four civilians, including the chief, and one soldier. The attack marks a new escalation in Boko Haram’s bloody six-year campaign to establish a hardline Islamic caliphate in northeast Nigeria, which borders Cameroon, Chad and Niger. The group has killed thousands of people since 2009. In the past few weeks it has stepped up its offensive both within Nigeria and against border towns of neighbouring countries, forcing Nigerian general elections that were scheduled for February 14 to be postponed by six weeks.

Africa boko haram chad