Hundreds of Boko Haram militants were killed in clashes in northern Nigeria, Chad army officials said on Wednesday.
The clashes, in which 9 of Chad’s troops also lost their lives, happened when soldiers from Chad and Niger drove the insurgents from Malam Fatori, one of Boko Haram’s last major footholds near Nigeria’s border with Niger, earlier this week.
According to Azem Bermandoa, a spokesman for Chad’s army, the fighting had driven militants more than 10 km (6 miles) outside the town.
Boko Haram had taken grip of Malam Fatori since November during the early incidences of their attack in northern Nigeria.
Boko Haram’s bid to create a caliphate in the north-east forced Nigeria to delay in an election due in February.
Retaliatory attacks by Nigerian, Chadian and Nigerien troops have however pushed militants out of most of the towns they previously controlled. They have in due course lost most of their fighters in the operations to drive them away, with most of their hideouts being swept clean.
