Shekau: Boko Haram leader

Nigerien Defence Ministry said 30 members of Boko Haram and five soldiers were killed in fighting in the southeastern Diffa region of the country in a statement released late Tuesday.

The Defence Ministry said in the statement that fighting began on Monday morning when the army fell into an ambush by the insurgents.

Six soldiers were also injured and two militants were captured during the clash, according to the statement.

Reuters quoted the Nigerien defence ministry as saying the clash took place Monday near the village of Toumour, near Lake Chad and the Nigerian border, an area that has plagued by violence from the Islamist militant group and is under an extended state of emergency.

The insurgents took the nearby town of Bosso in early June, in an attack that killed 32 soldiers and was the deadliest Boko Haram assault in Niger since April 2015.

Troops from Chad have been helping Niger to wage a counterattack.

“The Boko Haram fighters were trying to prevent people from praying to mark the feast of sacrifice,” Reuters quoted Laouan Boukar, a resident of Toumour as saying in reference to the important Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha that was on Monday.

Reuters