Chad troops fighting Boko Haram redeploy to Cameroon, signaling possible new push

WORLD

Chad troops fighting Boko Haram redeploy to Cameroon, signaling possible new push

Soldiers arrive at the scene of a blast where a suspected female suicide bomber blew herself up at the crowded Monday Market in Maiduguri on Tuesday, days after Boko Haram bombings killed 58 people, as the government said the group's allegiance to the Islamic State showed the militants were weakening. Chadian forces are redeploying apparently to hit Boko Haram positions farther south, leaving Nigerian forces to hold retaken parts of northern Nigeria, including Maiduguri. | AFP-JIJI

Reuters

Mar 13, 2015

N'DJAMENA/YAOUNDE – Much of the Chadian force fighting Boko Haram in Nigeria has withdrawn to Cameroon and is deploying farther south, Chadian soldiers and a Cameroonian military official said on Thursday, signaling the potential start of a new offensive.

Chad’s military has spearheaded an operation by Nigeria’s neighbors against the Islamist militant group that has killed thousands in northeast Nigeria and in recent months mounted an increasing number of cross-border raids.

Nigeria has simultaneously launched an offensive to retake a series of towns with the backing of hundreds of mercenaries from South Africa and the former Soviet Union in a bid to secure towns ahead of a rescheduled March 28 election.