Magreb y Sahel

Nigeria has announced a new military operation to clear out the remaining Boko Haram militants in its northeast and around Lake Chad as it seeks to end a nine-year insurgency.

Major General David Ahmadu, army chief of training and operations, said in a statement late Friday that the operation would last four months and involve the deployment of an additional six army brigades and other military assets in Borno state, where the insurgents remain active.

The army acknowledged for the first time that the insurgency has survived heavy military bombardment owing to its ‘complex and adaptive nature’, resulting in attacks on soft targets and mass abductions.

“It has become expedient for the Nigerian Army to change operating tactics, techniques and procedures in the northeast region. Accordingly, the Nigerian Army Day Celebration (NADCEL) 2018 will be commemorated with the conducting of an operation tagged Operation LAST HOLD in Northern Borno within the North East Theatre,” the statement said.

“The operation is [also] intended to facilitate the clearance of the Lake Chad waterways of seaweed and other obstacles obstructing the movement of boats and people across the water channels.” 

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