Muslim extremist group Boko Haram on Friday morning struck across Nigeria’s border into Niger for the first time, military officials said, broadening the regional conflict to a fourth nation in west Africa.
The escalation in violence led Nigeria’s electoral commission to postpone the country’s Feb. 14 presidential and legislative elections for six weeks to give a new multinational force time to secure northeastern areas under the militant group’s sway, an official close to the commission told The Associated Press yesterday.
According to the Nigerien military, Boko Haram fighters crossed the Komadougou River separating Nigeria from Niger and attacked Bosso, a remote town that has been sheltering thousands of refugees from the conflict.
A Nigerien army officer said the fighters were pushed back after at least three hours of combat.
Speaking from Niamey, the capital, the officer said all the Boko Haram fighters who entered Bosso were killed.
“We are in control of the situation,” said the army officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. “Anybody who entered the town, nobody came out alive.”
“People heard gunfire and went home,” the officer said.
The Nigerien army has troops based in Bosso, at the edge of the area of recent fighting with Boko Haram. An army detachment is posted at the river’s shallowest point, which can be easily crossed, military sources said. Last week, officials in Bosso said that they could hear Chadian airplanes bomb Boko Haram positions across the frontier.
The Nigerien parliament is scheduled to vote tomorrow on whether the nation’s troops would join those of Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad to take on the insurgents.
Chadian troops have had notable successes over the past week in confronting Boko Haram along Cameroon’s border, retaking at least one Nigerian town.
However, the extension of the fighting to Niger is a new phase in Boko Haram’s provocations.
Wary of being drawn into the fight, Niamey has been careful so far not to provoke the extremists.
Some analysts think that Boko Haram has heavily infiltrated Diffa, a regional capital in the Niger’s far east.
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