Chad's leader has called for the urgent
creation of a regional force to tackle
Nigerian Boko Haram militants.
The Islamist group operates in northern Nigeria,
but President Idriss Deby said it was posing a
threat to its neighbours around Lake Chad.
"Our basin is exposed to insecurity because of
the permanent threat posed by Boko Haram," he
said.
Nigeria has been struggling to contain attacks by
the militants who want to impose Islamic law in
the country.
On Monday, a suicide attack on a police station
in Taraba state, which borders Cameroon, killed
at least 11 people. No-one has claimed
responsibility for the bombing, but Boko Haram
militants have carried out many similar attacks.
They have targeted government institutions,
churches and bars as well as mosques belonging
to rival Muslim groups across northern Nigeria
over the last 20 months.
Last year, the group also attacked the UN
headquarters in Nigeria's capital, Abuja.
'Hideout' raided
"I am demanding the creation of a joint
deterrence force. We have to make this decision
here today," President Deby told a meeting of
the Lake Chad Basin Commission, which
includes Chad, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and the
Central African Republic.
"If we don't eradicate them, we won't be
capable of saving our Lake Chad," he said.
Some experts have warned that the group is
building links with al-Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb which has mainly been active in the
Sahara - across Niger, Mali and Algeria.
In Nigeria on Tuesday morning, troops raided a
suspected hideout of Boko Haram in the city of
Kano.
The BBC's Yusuf Ibrahim Yakasai in Kano says a
heavy gun battle started at about 04:00 GMT
and continued for two hours, but security
officials did not confirm whether the hideout
belonged to Boko Haram.
Lieutenant Iweha Ikedichi told Reuters news
agency that explosives and weapons were
discovered during the raid in the Sabuwar Gandu
area of the city.
An 18-year-old woman arrested in the raid told
AFP news agency that her husband was a Boko
Haram member and had escaped during the
fighting.
The group has killed more than 1,000 people
since it first came to prominence in 2009 when
hundreds of its followers were killed when they
attacked police stations in Maiduguri.
Its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, was arrested but
died in police custody.
In 2010 the group, whose name means
"Western education is forbidden", started to
stage drive-by shootings on government targets
in revenge for his killing.
Their attacks have killed hundreds of civilians,
both Muslim and Christian.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17906504

Oh lawdy, lawdy lord!
Can you send demon to fight devil?

lol

Concealing knowledge of someone's Boko Haram membership should be considered a crime punishable by law.