| schema:articleBody
| - The Chadian army said Thursday it had ended an offensive against jihadists in the Lake Chad border region in which 52 troops and 1,000 jihadists were killed. But experts warn that the Islamist fighters remain a major threat as regional forces have struggled to cooperate. March 23 saw two spectacular attacks launched by jihadists against the Nigerian and Chadian militaries on either side of their porous border. At dawn Boko Haram fighters launched an assault on the island base of Bohoma belonging to Chadian army. Fighting lasted for seven hours and left at least 98 Chadian soldiers dead -- the worst one-day death toll in the history of the country's armed forces. The same day, a rival jihadist faction carried out an attack on Nigerian forces dozens of kilometres away near the town of Konduga. Sources say at least 70 soldiers are killed as fighters allied to the so-called Islamic State group ambush a Nigerian convoy. The attacks -- which appear to have been coincidental -- demonstrated a rise in firepower among the extremists after a decade of insurgency, analysts said. "We are currently witnessing a resurgence of very deadly jihadist attacks from all sides... with increased sophistication and efficiency," said Bulama Bukarti, an analyst at the Tony Blair Institute. The so-called Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) has been building up its ties with other IS-linked jihadists in the Sahel -- and could be getting arms from them. "The links between the two West African groups appear to be strengthening," the International Crisis Group said in a report Tuesday. Meanwhile the Boko Haram faction headed by long-time leader Abubakar Shekau -- who claimed responsibility for the attack on the Chadians -- has also been extending beyond its traditional stronghold into Lake Chad. Fighters near the Niger border known as the "Bakura group" -- thought to be Chadians and disgruntled IS fighters -- pledged allegiance to him late last year and have stepped up attacks. "It shows that Shekau is very resilient over time," said Washington-based researcher Jacob Zenn. "He was able to delegate his authority to sometimes distant cells." Lake Chad is a vast, marshy body of water dotted with islets where the borders of Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon meet. The area has been a haven for jihadists since Boko Haram launched its bloody campaign of violence in 2009. Chadian President Idriss Deby ordered -- and personally oversaw -- the massive operation against the jihadists by land, water and air in revenge for the attack. Nigerian military sources said the Chadians took control of several islands in Lake Chad and forced ISWAP and Boko Haram fighters to flee before calling a halt on Thursday. Deby -- whose forces are considered some of the best in the region -- has called out Chad's neighbours for not doing enough to fight the jihadists. "Chad is alone in shouldering all the burden of the war against Boko Haram," he said last weekend. The four countries bordering the lake on 2015 set up a formation called the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) to fight Boko Haram. But Chad has shown frustration with the MNJTF following the Bohoma losses. Niger said its forces along with Nigerian troops had also inflicted "heavy losses" from their side on the jihadists. But analysts warned that long-standing failures to cooperate were hampering the fight. "The (multinational force) typically reflects regional institutions that function poorly: member countries do not speak the same language, and there is not enough intelligence sharing," said Zenn. Bukarti from the Tony Blair Institute said that the regional militaries need to coordinate better to "carry out massive, simultaneous and sustainable operations". And once territory is won they need to "determine how to maintain a continuous presence in the lake area to prevent the jihadists from returning immediately to settle there". abu-cl/del/jv
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)