LAGOS, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Scores of terrorists have been killed and heavy weapons recovered by troops of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) on the fringes of Lake Chad, a spokesperson of the regional forces said Sunday.
The latest advances were recorded on Thursday in a renewed offensive on the extremist groups Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province, said MNJTF spokesperson Kamarudeen Adegoke in a statement issued in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri.
The operation was conducted in response to a recent thwarted attack by the terrorists on a MNJTF base in the Arege area in the Borno state of Nigeria, said Adegoke. "Scores of terrorists were neutralized during the encounter."
He said the ongoing operations by the MNJTF troops have diminished the capacity of the extremist groups to carry out their activities in the Lake Chad Basin region.
According to the MNJTF website, the force, commencing operations in July 2015, is a combined multinational formation comprising troops from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria. It is headquartered in N'Djamena, Chad, and mandated to bring an end to the activities of Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in the Lake Chad Basin region. ■