In a major offensive against militant groups in the Lake Chad region, a multinational security force reports significant success.
The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), comprised of troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, conducted a series of air, land, and naval operations that neutralized 70 militants and dismantled five camps.
The offensive targeted the marshlands and islands of Lake Chad, a known hideout for Boko Haram and its splinter group, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
These groups have established camps in this vast region shared by Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, and Chad, and are engaged in a violent struggle for control.
According to a statement by MNJTF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Abubakar Abdullahi, the Chadian Rapid Intervention Force, a newly formed elite unit, played a crucial role in pursuing fleeing militants after airstrikes successfully destroyed camps on the Cameroonian and Nigerian sides of the lake.
This military action follows a series of suicide bombings in the Nigerian town of Gwoza, near the Cameroonian border, which killed over 30 people and injured dozens.
Authorities blame Boko Haram for the attack, highlighting the ongoing struggle to end the insurgency that has ravaged Nigeria’s northeast for over a decade.
The MNJTF offensive intensifies pressure on the militants, who have responded to recent military successes with deadly attacks on fishermen suspected of aiding the military.
This incident underscores the complex security situation in the region.
While the military focuses on Boko Haram in the northeast, other security threats plague Nigeria.
Banditry in the northwest and central regions continues, with recent reports of a deadly ambush on a police patrol van.
