500 navy officers deployed to hunt Boko Haram in Lake Chad

500 men from the navy have been deployed to Lake Chad to stop growing threats from the Boko Haram terrorist group. The men were mobilized less than a week after Cameroon announced it was contributing 2,450 troops to the Ndjamena-based multi-national joint forces to fight Boko Haram.

Navy chief of staff Rear Admiral Mendoua Jean said Boko Haram fighters may be using Lake Chad and its basin to prepare attacks on states in the region after they were dislodged from their Sambisa Forest hideout in raids by the Nigerian army.

He said the troops in the field and those joining them will spare no effort and neglect no details in their mission to crush the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram.

Rear Admiral Mendoua Jean said the navy will share information and coordinate intelligence to keep watch over Lake Chad shared by Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad, Benin and Niger, all of them countries that have been suffering from the Boko Haram insurgency.

The violence has displaced about 2 million people and killed about 20 000 in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Last week, Cameroon announced it had contributed 2,450 troops to the joint forces to fight the insurgency, more than triple the 700 it had earlier pledged.

Nigeria's president Muhammadou Buhari has given his military three months to crush the insurgents in cooperation with the 8,700 joint force soldiers headquartered in Chad.