109 Boko Haram fighters killed in Niger

"At around 9 a.m. elements of the Boko Haram terrorist group launched two simultaneous attacks at Bosso and Diffa. At Bosso, Niger's defence forces helped by Chadian troops neutralised the assailants," said the statement by Defence Minister Karidio Mahamadou on state television.

Chad deployed war planes to repulse the attack, military officials in Niger said earlier. There was no independent confirmation of the numbers killed.

General Yaya Doud, commander of Chadian forces deployed north of Lake Chad, was shot in the stomach in Bosso, a Chadian security source said. He has been evacuated to



hospital in N'Djamena for treatment.

"The Boko Haram attack from Malam Fatori (in Nigeria) against the town of Bosso and the bridge at Doutchi in the Diffa region has been repulsed. We have Chadian planes bombarding the locality," said a Niger military source.

Boko Haram has seized territory in northeastern Nigeria as part of a five-year insurgency for an Islamist state. Around 10,000 people were killed last year and the militants increasingly stage cross border attacks. The insurgency is the worst threat to Nigeria's security as the nation, Africa's top oil producer and biggest economy, heads to a presidential election on Feb. 14.

The militants are also increasingly threatening neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon, prompting regional leaders to come up with a joint plan to defeat them.