Boko Haram launches first attack in Niger

By BBC

The attack on the border town of Bosso was the group's second on a neighbouring country in as many days.

Its militants reportedly killed at least 70 people in an attack on the town of Fotokol in Cameroon on Wednesday. The Boko Haram insurgency has left thousands dead and displaced more than a million over the past six years. The militants control a large stretch of land in north-eastern Nigeria.

Its neighbours have promised to send troops to help it fight the militants, who are now attacking those countries.

Yacouba Soumana Gaoh, the governor of the Diffa region around Bosso, told the BBC that the Islamists had been successfully pushed back after clashing with Nigerian troops.

Mr Gaoh said the number of casualties was unknown but he believed no civilians were harmed during the fighting. A BBC reporter said that the Boko Haram militants had attacked Bosso early in the morning with heavy weapons, causing residents to flee and or hide indoors.

One resident told Agence France-Presse news agency: "We can hear the sound of weapons all around the town, often very near our windows."There is the noise of heavy weapons and of light arms, making our houses shake."

Bosso lies just across the border from Nigeria's Borno state, one of the areas worst affected by Islamist violence. The town is home to thousands of Nigerian refugees who have fled Boko Haram. The militant group, which has sworn allegiance to Islamic State and desires its own caliphate in Nigeria, has killed thousands and displaced millions in the country's north-east.

It is now threatening Chad, Niger and Cameroon, prompting Chad to deploy 2,500 troops to border areas including Bosso. Chad sent troops to Cameroon last month to join the offensive against Boko Haram, following widespread criticism of the Nigerian army's failure to curb the insurgency.