A Nigerien army position was violently attacked on Saturday by fighters from the jihadist group Boko Haram in Chétima Wangou, in the south-east of the country close to Nigeria, AFP learned on Sunday.
“The Chétima Wangou military base was attacked by heavily armed BH (Boko Haram) elements who came in vehicles. There were wounded among our soldiers who were admitted to Diffa hospital for emergency care, ” a local journalist told AFP.
“The attack took place but we have no results,” confirmed a security source to AFP . This attack comes after a lull since the end of 2019 in the Diffa region targeted since 2015 by Islamists from Boko Haram.
A humanitarian source explained to AFP that the attack was mainly favored by the “partial low water” of the waters of the Komadougou (river border between Niger and Nigeria), which usually prevent the incursions of jihadists.
In February 2019, seven Nigerien soldiers were killed during an attack from this same position on Chétima Wangou, a small village in the commune of Chétimari, 25 km south-west of the city of Diffa (regional capital).
This commune is also close to the Nigerian city of Damasak, taken in 2015 from the Nigerian army by Boko Haram fighters, before being reconquered by soldiers from Chad and Niger.
The Diffa region is home to 120,000 Nigerian refugees and thousands of displaced people fleeing the Boko Haram abuses, according to the UN. In mid-February, around 20 people died and several were injured in a stampede during the distribution of food and money to refugees and displaced persons in Diffa.
