Five villagers have been killed in western Chad, as Boko Haram jihadist fighters increase their deadly attacks, a regional official told AFP Monday.

Two of the victims were strangled and three were shot dead, said Sadick Khatir, secretary-general of the Lac area.

The bodies were found on Saturday, another local source said.

“The villagers went outside the zone protected by the army,” the source said.

Boko Haram has training camps on several of the islands that dot the vast, shallow Lake Chad, which straddles the borders of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon as well as Chad.

The jihadist insurgency, which broke out in north-eastern Nigeria a decade ago, has spilt over into neighbouring countries.

This year alone 140,000 people have been displaced by renewed Boko Haram violence and more than three million people endure food insecurity as farmers have been unable to plant crops, according to the United Nations.

In 2015, the Lake Chad countries, together with Benin, set up a combined force to fight Boko Haram with the help of local groups of armed citizens.

Boko Haram, loosely translated as “Western education is banned”, wants to create a hard-line Islamic state.

(AFP)

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