Thursday, demonstrating it can still attack civilians despite a regional offensive that has forced it into retreat.
The
sources said Boko Haram attacked a settlement on the way into the centre
of Gambaru, on the border with Cameroon, on Wednesday afternoon. The
nearby village of Ngala was also attacked.
Gambaru, near Lake Chad, had been captured from the
militants by Chadian troops last month. On Tuesday the Nigerian army
said it had repelled Boko Haram from all but three districts of the
northeast, less than two weeks before a presidential election.
Boko Haram has killed thousands of people in a six-year
insurgency to carve out an Islamic state in northeastern Nigeria. The
group, which until the start of this year controlled territory the size
of Belgium, has been squeezed back in the run-up to the March 28 poll,
in which President Goodluck Jonathan will seek re-election.
Olu Adejuwon, staying in the Cameroonian town of Fotokol which
is separated from Gambaru by a river, said he had heard gunshots on
Wednesday afternoon that continued for a long time. "There was a gun
battle with some Cameroon soldiers," he said.
Chadian troops, who had pushed as far as Dikwa in
Nigeria's northeast Borno state, pulled back last week into Fotokol.
Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger are in the process of
planning and seeking United Nations backing for a joint 10,000-strong
force to defeat the insurgents, though coordination has been disjointed
and plagued by mistrust and rivalry.
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