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West African nations unveiled a five-nation alliance against Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram at the weekend as it launched an overnight assault on a border town in Niger.
Beginning on Saturday night and lasting until 5am, the skirmish was the second time Diffa had come under attack by Boko Haram since Friday.
But hours after the attack was repulsed, a young female suicide bomber blew herself up in Diffa’s pepper market, which attracts traders and customers from Nigeria and other countries in the region.
“This young girl who was wearing the bomb made it explode right in the middle of the market,” said resident Kader Lawan.
“At the moment, the market is surrounded by soldiers and the rest of the town also.”
Foreign fighters from neighbouring countries are said to be part of the terror group, which recruits with payment and by force as well as on an ideological basis.
Regional and African Union officials met in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde at the weekend to unveil a proposal for an anti-Boko Haram force of as many as 8,750 soldiers from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin.
The force would be headquartered in the Chadian capital N’Djamena.
Officials said that they envisaged deploying the force as early as next month, though a lack of funds could delay that.
As the meeting was held, thousands of young people marched through the streets of Yaounde as part of a demonstration organised by the National Youth Council to discourage collaboration with Boko Haram and to voice support for the military.