Soldiers discover mass grave in Nigeria

Troops from Chad and Nigeria discovered around 100 bodies scattered under a bridge in Nigeria's northeastern city Damasak, a Chadian army spokesman told news agencies on Friday.

"There are about 100 bodies spread around the bridge just outside the town," Colonel Azem Bermandoa Agouna said, adding that he had visited the area himself. He said that several bodies had been decapitated.

Soldiers had recaptured the city from Islamist Boko Haram fighters earlier in March. Most of the town's residents had fled by the time the army could recapture Damasak, which lies close to Nigeria's border with Niger.

Nigeria has launched a regional offensive together with Chad, Cameroon and Niger aimed at wiping out Boko Haram extremists. Nigeria's army said on Tuesday that it had pushed back most of the terrorists from the 20 districts Boko Haram had under its control. Only three districts remained to be tackled, the army said.

The militants, however, struck again on Thursday, killing 10 people in Gamboru, close to Nigeria's border with Cameroon.

The terror outfit's increasing number of attacks have rocked Nigeria, which is to hold parliamentary and presidential elections on March 28. President Goodluck Jonathan has come under heavy criticism for failing to do enough to effectively tackle the Islamists.

Boko Haram's stated aim is to establish a caliphate based on an extreme interpretation of the Sharia law.

mg/pfd (AFP, Reuters)