Troops from Chad have driven Boko Haram fighters from a northern Nigeria border town seized by the Islamist militants late last year, military sources in Niger said on Thursday (January 29).
A Chadian military source said 123 Boko Haram fighters were killed in clashes with Chadian soldiers, who sustained three deaths. A dozen soldiers were injured.
Chad's involvement in retaking the town comes as the regional military heavyweight assumes an increasingly aggressive role in combating the militants and regional leaders weigh new options for containing the movement's spread.
Boko Haram has killed thousands in its struggle to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.
It seized the town of Malam Fatori in November, sending government soldiers stationed there fleeing across the nearby border into Niger.
A second officer said Chadian troops began massing on the shores of Lake Chad last week before crossing into Nigeria on Wednesday (January 28) to retake Malam Fatori.
Local television channel Alnassr showed pictures of Chad troops returning from Tchoukou Talliaan island on the lake where it said they had taken Boko Haram militants as prisoners.
Nigeria's defence headquarters tweeted that Nigerian Air Force aircraft had been involved in two days of air operations over the town. It did not confirm Malam Fatori had been retaken or directly acknowledge the presence of Chadian troops.
The four nations of the Lake Chad Basin - Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria - agreed to bring their forces together to fight Boko Haram in October, together with a contingent from Benin, which borders Nigeria to the west.
But disagreements surfaced over how to deploy the troops and a cohesive fighting force has failed to materialise.
Meanwhile, Boko Haram has expanded their zone of operations over the past year, most notably into northern Cameroon.
The group has stepped up attacks in the run-up to February 14 elections in Nigeria.
After Cameroonian President Paul Biya appealed for help to fend off Boko Haram, Chad sent troops, armoured vehicles and attack helicopters this month to assist the thousands of Cameroonian soldiers already deployed to the border.
The African Union on Thursday (January 29) endorsed a West African plan to set up a regional task force of 7,500 to fight Boko Haram, a senior official said, in a vital step towards securing U.N. Security Council backing.
REUTERS