Niger vows to avenge Boko Haram raid

Niamey / AFP

Niger vowed to avenge the deaths of 26 of its soldiers who were killed by Boko Haram insurgents in one of the extremist group’s deadliest attacks in the country.
“We must continue to fight, this insult must be expunged, there is nothing to be done, it must be avenged,” Defence Minister HassoumiMassoudou said.
The minister was speaking to troops at a garrison at Bosso, near the Nigerian border where the deadly attack took place on Friday, according to a broadcast on state television.
It said the minister visited military positions in Bosso accompanied by army chiefs and Nigerian General LamidiAdeosun, head of the multinational force that groups soldiers from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad to fight Boko Haram.
The minister also toured the town to view to scale of the damage caused by the insurgents, the television said.
It showed images of a burnt-out military transport vehicle and a town seemingly devoid of its 20,000 residents and Nigerian refugees.
“It’s terrible, all of Niger is crying,” said Massoudou, adding that he felt “deeply wounded” after visiting the site of the bloodshed.
The attack “will unfortunately be engraved on the history of our people.”
He urged the troops to keep their “morale high” as “we will win this war.”
Twenty six Nigerien and two Nigerian soldiers were killed in the attack by hundreds of Boko Haram assailants on a military post in Bosso, the government said.
The defence ministry earlier said that a total of 32 soldiers had been killed.
Some 67 soldiers were injured, according to the updated statement, while 55 Boko Haram fighters were killed and “many” injured.
“On the enemy’s side, several dead and injured were taken away,” the ministry said.