NIAMEY, Nigeria: Niger said Wednesday it had killed 33 Boko Haram “terrorists” and seized vehicles and weapons in an operation in the Lake Chad region in the country’s southeast.
“Offensive actions carried out on Tuesday inflicted heavy losses on the enemy,” a defense ministry statement read on state television said.
“Thirty-three terrorists (were) killed” while there were no losses on the army’s side, it said.
An “armored vehicle” was destroyed, while two other vehicles, two motorcycles, a 120-millimeter mortar, 10 AK-47 assault rifles, two 60mm shells and 3,736 rounds of all calibres were seized, it said.
The operation began on Saturday, it said — a day after seven police and 38 militants were killed near Gueskerou in the southeastern region of Diffa, according to a government toll.
Diffa borders the birthplace of Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria and has suffered a string of cross-border raids and population displacement.
An estimated 27,000 people have been killed and two million others displaced since Boko Haram launched its insurgency in 2009.
Lake Chad, which straddles parts of Niger, Nigeria and Chad, has borne the brunt of the militants’ hit-and-run attacks.
In November, around a dozen girls were taken in raids on several border villages, while seven local employees of a French drilling firm and a government official were killed after suspected Boko Haram gunmen stormed their compound.
On February 16, seven Nigerien soldiers were killed in an attack on the border village of Chetima Wangou.
A year-end government offensive, combining land and air forces, killed more than 280 militants, Niger’s armed forces maintained on January 3.
Niger says it killed 33 Boko Haram ‘terrorists’
Niger says it killed 33 Boko Haram ‘terrorists’
- An estimated 27,000 people have been killed and two million others displaced since Boko Haram launched its insurgency in 2009
- Lake Chad, which straddles parts of Niger, Nigeria and Chad, has borne the brunt of the militants’ hit-and-run attacks
California joins UN health network following US departure from WHO
- California Governor Gavin Newsom decried the United States’ move on Friday, calling it a “reckless decision” that will hurt many people
CALIFORNIA: California said on Friday it will become the first US state to join the World Health Organization’s global outbreak response network following the Trump administration’s decision to pull Washington out of the WHO.
The network, comprised of more than 360 technical institutions, responds to public health events with the deployment of staff and resources to affected countries. It has tackled major public health events, including COVID-19. The state’s decision to join the network comes more than a year after US President Donald Trump gave notice that Washington would depart from the WHO. On Thursday, it officially withdrew from the agency, saying its decision reflected failures in the UN health agency’s management of the pandemic.
California Governor Gavin Newsom decried the United States’ move on Friday, calling it a “reckless decision” that will hurt many people.
“California will not bear witness to the chaos this decision will bring,” Newsom said in a statement. “We will continue to foster partnerships across the globe and remain at the forefront of public health preparedness, including through our membership as the only state in WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network.”
The governor’s office said he met with the WHO’s Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week, where they discussed collaborating to detect and respond to emerging public health threats.
The WHO did not immediately respond when reached for comment.
