Boko haram clashes
SA mercenary speaks out after Boko Haram bloodshed
The Nigerian military broke its silence late Friday evening to confirm that the Metele base had been attacked on 18 November, but did not give a death toll.
The agency said it had documented more than 1,000 verified cases, the first time it had published an estimated tally. But the actual number could be much larger, it added.
The kidnapping is one of the largest since the jihadist group Boko Haram abducted more than 270 schoolgirls from the northeastern town of Chibok in 2014.
More than one hundred girls are missing after an attack on a school in northeast Nigeria by suspected Boko Haram insurgents.
More than 20,000 people have been killed and two million forced to flee their homes since the insurgency began.
The kidnappings were part of a campaign of attacks last year by the jihadist group whose bid to create an Islamic state in the northeast.
The Islamist insurgency has spread beyond its roots in Nigeria, killing 20,000 and uprooting nearly 3 million in the Lake Chad region.
The report is the latest challenge to the military on human rights and the attacks suggest a deadly crisis between herders and farmers is spiralling out of government control.
The evening attack, which also injured five people, struck the city’s Muna Garage area, Damian Chukwu, a police commissioner, told Reuters.
There was no immediate explanation or comment from defence officials in Chad.
Two more suicide bombers detonated their devices at the gates to a nearby refugee camp, wounding many people, an emergency services official said.
More than seven million people risk starvation in the surrounding Lake Chad region, according to the United Nations.
The army has warned insurgent may are headed for neighbouring areas around the Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the attacks bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram.
The attack targeted a camp in the village of Tassalit in Niger’s Tahoua, 525 km northeast of Niamey.
Four in 10 female respondents said they served as soldiers, compared with 45 percent of men.
The UN has called for military escorts for aid workers trying to reach areas affected by the crisis.
In recent years, the Nigerian army said it has killed or critically wounded Shekau on multiple occasions.
The group’s 7-year insurgency to create an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria has killed 15,000 people.