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11/22/2024 02:14:42 am

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Nigeria To Destroy Boko Haram Camps In Six Weeks After Rebels Strike Neighbors

Boko Haram militants

(Photo : Joe Penney/Reuters) Boko Haram militants continue to grow in number as they recruit more members from villages they have seized.

Six weeks --- that is the deadline set by the Nigerian government to "take out" all Boko Haram camps. The announcement comes as the Nigerian rebel group intensified its insurgency and spread its terror attacks into neighboring countries on Monday.

The militant group set off a car bomb in Niger and kidnapped about 20 people in Cameroon. The new wave of attacks came as countries in the region such as Benin, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and Chad committed to form an African union and deployed thousands of troops to bring the group down.

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Jennifer Cooke, an analyist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said a multinational response is brewing. The upcoming movement is bound to create a more vibrant response too the insurgencies across the region, she added.

But Boko Haram vowed to attack countries uniting against them. The group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, posted a video on YouTube, calling government soldiers "infidels" and referring to themselves as victorious soldiers of God.

The car bombing in Niger took place in the town of Diffa. Casualties were taken to a hospital, and no other details were immediately available.

In northern Cameroon, the rebels seized a bus with about 20 passengers on board.

Kolofata, another Cameroonian town, was also attacked by the group who looted food and livestock.

Last week, Nigeria announced the postponement of the February 14 presidential elections to March 28, citing increased attacks by Boko Haram. The election council had said no troops will be available to protect the voters, as most are deployed to combat the militants.

However, Nigeria's National Security Adviser Sambo  Dasuki said the government is bent on destroying the rebels' camps before March 28th, and that the poll date will not be pushed back further.

"All known Boko Haram camps will be taken out. They won't be there. They will be dismantled," Dasuki said.

The militant group had been operating in three states in north east Nigeria in the past six years, in a bid to create a hardline Islamic state.

The United States estimates the group as having 4,000 to 6,000 hardcore fighters.

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