Multinational Force Takes Down 70 Jihadists in Lake Chad: Success Stories in Combatting Extremism

The recent military offensive around Lake Chad, which borders Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad, has led to the death of 70 jihadists. The Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) comprising troops from Benin, Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger, and Chad conducted the attacks. According to MJTF spokesman Abubakar Abdullahi, the Chadian army conducted air, sea, and ground attacks in the area.

On Sunday, the Chadian army had reported about 70 dead in a suicide attack on the Nigerian shore of Lake Chad. Following bombardments by the MJTF on the Nigerian side of the lake, 70 of them fled to the Chadian side where they were subsequently killed by Chadian troops. However, Abdullahi did not specify which terrorist group they belonged to.

In addition to these attacks, there were also several suicide bombings in Gwoza town near the border with Cameroon that claimed the lives of 32 civilians on Sunday. These attacks were seen as a clear indication of pressure on terrorists and successes achieved in weakening their offensive capacity by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu.

The multinational force was initially established to combat cross-border crime but its focus shifted to counter-terrorism operations due to an increase in jihadist groups in the region over the past 15 years. Boko Haram first emerged in northeastern Nigeria in 2009 while other Islamist terrorist groups arose in the wider region subsequently. The violence perpetrated by these groups has resulted in at least 40 thousand deaths and displaced around two million people in Nigeria alone.

In recent weeks, escalated airstrikes have been carried out on terrorist camps around Lake Chad by Nigerian military prompting deadly attacks on fishermen that resulted in additional fatalities.

Overall this operation is an example of how multinational forces can work together effectively against common threats such as terrorism even though they come from different countries with varying resources and capabilities.