Chadian forces scored a key victory over Boko Haram on Tuesday, wresting control of the border town of Gamboru within hours of launching a ground offensive against the jihadist group.
Around 2,000 Chadian troops backed by armoured vehicles crossed the border into Gamboru from the Cameroonian town of Fotokol after days of clashes with the insurgents.
By Tuesday evening, the troops had taken control of the town, according to an AFP journalist in Gamboru, leaving scenes of desolation, with houses destroyed, shops gutted and trucks charred.
The residents and remaining fighters appeared to have fled.
No official death toll from the fighting was immediately available. A Chadian military source said eight Chadian soldiers were killed and around 20 injured.
The AFP journalist saw bodies lying on the ground.
“We have routed this group of terrorists,” the commander of the Chadian contingent Ahmat Dari told AFP, vowing to continue the fight against the insurgents “until the end”.
The ground intervention by Chad came after the African Union last week backed a regional five-nation, 7,500-strong force to take on the extremists amid growing fears about their threat to regional security.
Nigeria has drawn fierce criticism for failing to hold back the insurgents, who have stepped up their campaign of terror in country’s northeast in the run-up to presidential and parliamentary elections on February 14.
Defence spokesman Chris Olukolade denied that the presence of foreign troops on Nigerian soil compromised the country’s sovereignty.
“Nigeria’s territorial integrity remains intact,” he defended, claiming national forces had “planned and are driving the present onslaught against terrorists from all fronts in Nigeria, not the Chadian forces.”
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