Boko Haram raids border town in Niger
Iran Press TV
Fri Feb 6, 2015 2:25PM
Boko Haram Takfiri militants have attacked a town in Niger near the border with Nigeria.
The Nigeria-based militants raided Bosso early Friday, said Abba Hassan, a pharmacist local resident.
He added that Niger's soldiers managed to repel the militants after fighting them for an hour.
The attack came on the second day of a three-day meeting in the Cameroonian capital, Yaoundé, with the aim of finalizing plans to establish a 7,500-strong force from Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Benin.
"Niger and Chadian planes are conducting surveillance at the moment in town and troops on the ground are combing through the streets," Hassan was quoted by AP as saying.
Niger is Nigeria's second neighboring country, after Cameroon, where Boko Haram-related violence has escalated over the past days.
Cameroonian officials said that on February 4-5, Boko Haram militants raided Cameroon's border town of Fotokol, killing nearly 100 people and wounding 500 others.
The region of Niger where recent violence took place is an area where refugees already have arrived by the thousands seeking safety from Boko Haram attacks.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden," controls parts of northeastern Nigeria and says its goal is to overthrow the Nigerian government.
It has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly shooting attacks and bombings in various parts of Nigeria since the beginning of its operations in 2009, which have left over 13,000 people dead and 1.5 million displaced.
Boko Haram has also conducted terrorist attacks in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger.
MIS/HSN/SS
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