In the Diffa region, kidnappings of people for ransom are multiplying. In the night of Wednesday, May 29, 11 people were abducted in the village of Toumour. Abductions that continue despite heavy losses inflicted in recent times on jihadists by soldiers of the Multinational Joint Task Force that brings together Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Nigeria.

The incursions of armed men took place in the middle of the night on the outskirts of the village of Toumour. According to several sources, they split into two groups to target two families. Without firing a single shot so as not to alert the defense and security forces, the attackers succeeded in abducting 11 people, 8 women and 3 men, including a marabout whom they killed in their flight. The latter had fled his village in the Nigerian part to take refuge in Toumour in Niger.

In one month, about twenty people have been abducted in this area. This multiplication of kidnappings is due to the fact that along the 300 kilometers of borders separating Diffa from the Nigerian part, several small villages line the Komadougou Yobé river, which is dried up, so ill-intentioned people can make several round trips on foot without being detected.

For some time now, according to security sources, the noose is tightening around Boko Haram jihadists. Indeed, Nigerian forces have massively returned to the Lake Chad basin with significant air strikes, it is said. For their part, Nigerian forces have also intensified their ground and air operations in the lake.

According to sources close to the Multinational Joint Task Force that just stayed in Diffa, sector 4, the morale of the soldiers is high. A veritable race against time is underway in the Lake Chad basin to inflict maximum losses on the enemy before the rainy season sets in.