Chad and Niger launched a joint military operation Sunday by ground forces as well as air strikes against Boko Haram's camps in Nigeria. "We can confirm that Chadian and Nigerien forces launched an offensive this morning from Niger. The offensive is underway," Colonel Azem Bermandoa, Chad's army spokesman told Reuters.
Military sources said that the Chadian and Nigerian forces launched the strikes on Borno state, northeastern Nigeria.
On Friday, the African Union (AU) announced that it agreed to establish a regional power to confront Boko Haram, adding that the force will include 10,000 soldiers to fight Boko Haram in Nigeria, Chad, Niger, and Cameroon.
Boko Haram has announced Saturday, through an audio tape released on the group's Twitter account, its allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.
Boko Haram is a Nigerian Salafist jihadi group, founded in January 2002 by Mohammed Yusuf, with the aim of applying the Islamic law (Sharia) on all the states of Nigeria. The group's current leader is Abubakar Shekau.
The group, also known as Nigeria's Taliban, was formed of Nigerian students who have given up their study and established their base in the northeast of the country, on the border with Niger.
Boko Haram committed several brutal violent acts in Nigeria targeting civilians, most recently the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in 2014.
