Niger says army killed 40 jihadists

NIAMEY, May 26 (AFP): The Niger government said Wednesday that the army had killed around 40 Boko Haram jihadists in overnight fighting on islets in Lake Chad.

"Some 100 Boko Haram fighters arrived in four large wooden canoes and an armed speedboat" and attempted to attack troops on the islets of the lake, which borders Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad, the defence ministry said.

The soldiers "forced the assailants to flee with several dead in their ranks," the ministry said.

A subsequent mopping-up operation in the area "led to the neutralisation of some 40 fighters" and the recovery of several weapons along with ammunition and explosives.

On the army side, seven soldiers were injured when their vehicle was blown up by an improvised explosive device, the ministry said.

The Lake Chad basin, and its countless small islands, have become one of the main havens for jihadists from Nigeria's Boko Haram and its dissident branch, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP).