Niger troops ‘foil’ Boko Haram prison attack

Nigerien soldiers have repelled a Boko Haram attack on a prison facility in Diffa, a border community in its southeastern part bordering Nigeria.

The attack was the third on Diffa within four days.

“The attack failed. The assailants were quite easily pushed back,” one source told AFP.

“Some Boko Haram fighters sought to hide out in the town. The soldiers are looking for them, weapons at the ready. The army has encircled Diffa.”

A journalist said some of the fighters were being held in the prison they attacked.

Niger’s parliament has set aside Monday to vote on whether or not to support a proposal to deploy troops inside Nigeria to help in the battle against insurgency.

From Nigeria, Boko Haram has expanded its operations zone into neighboring Cameroon and attacks near Lake Chad – a crossroads between Nigeria, Chad, and Niger – have sent tens of thousands of refugees fleeing across the borders.

On Saturday, the governments of Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Benin agreed to establish an 8,700-strong regional force to take Boko Haram.

Chadian forces already crossed into Nigeria last week to the south of Lake Chad to attack Boko Haram in the town of Gamboru, bordering Cameroon.

In several towns across Cameroon, tens of thousands of people came out to the streets on Saturday to show their support for the army in the struggle against the insurgents.

Boko Haram has seized territory in north-eastern Nigeria as part of a five-year insurgency to carve out an Islamist state on the territory of Africa’s biggest economy and top oil producer.

About 10,000 people were killed last year alone.