Niger police arrest 160 suspected Boko Haram militants

By CNN

Authorities in the landlocked African nation of Niger have arrested 160 suspected Boko Haram militants allegedly involved in deadly attacks near that country's border with Nigeria, a national police spokesman said Tuesday.

The arrests happened over the last two days in Niger's Diffa region, which borders Nigeria. Those taken into custody include Kaka Bunu, who police spokesman Adil Doro said was "involved in the recruitment of (Boko Haram) members."

Some of the suspects fled south, only to be arrested while on the run or in "their hiding places," said Yakubu Sumana Gawo, the governor of Niger's Diffa region.

Members of the Nigerien police's anti-terrorism unit are interrogating the suspects, all of them Niger citizens. Cameroon, meanwhile, is holding hundreds of suspected Boko Haram militants in prisons in its Far North Region.

Two Cameroon security sources said more than 1,000 alleged terrorists are in custody in the central prison in the town of Maroua. Col. Joseph Nouma, commander of Cameroon's special military operation targeting terrorists, offered a more conservative number of more than 600 detained.

Nouma said his forces squared off Monday with Boko Haram fighters and beat them decisively.

The battle in Gnam-Gnam, which is 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the Nigerian border, began when Cameroonian soldiers on a reconnaissance mission "were ambushed by the terrorists," the Cameroonian colonel said.

It ended a few hours later with at least 100 militants and five Cameroonian soldiers dead, according to Nouma. He said Cameroonian troops also seized an armored vehicle, two machine guns and a large amount of ammunition. Nigeria joined in fight by Niger, Cameroon

Even with these mass arrests and reported military victories, though, no one is under the illusion that Boko Haram is finished.

The group, whose name translates as "Western education is sin," has been waging a yearslong campaign of terror aimed at instituting its extreme version of Sharia law. Boko Haram's tactics have intensified in recent years, from battling government soldiers to acts disproportionately affecting civilians -- such as raids on villages, mass kidnappings, assassinations, market bombings and attacks on churches and unaffiliated mosques.

Much of this violence has taken place in Nigeria. But neighboring countries, such as Cameroon and Chad, have also been hit increasingly hard.

Niger became more of a target following its decision to join the regional alliance fighting Boko Haram. The group has been blamed for raids and suicide bombings in recent days in Diffa, which is in the far southeastern part of the country.

In response, Niger's government last Wednesday declared a state of emergency in the region that gives authorities the OK to go house to house in its crackdown on Boko Haram.

Cameroon has been battling the terrorist group for longer.

The African nation has deployed about 7,000 troops across the Far North Region, where Boko Haram has scaled up attacks over the past year.

These include cross-border raids and attempts to take over a Cameroon military base in Kolofata and another in Achigashia, forcing Cameroonian soldiers to retreat and then for the first time use airstrikes against the insurgents.

And last month, Boko Haram militants kidnapped 80 people in northern Cameroon, Said Abdulkarim, a journalist for the state broadcaster, told CNN.

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.