Meanwhile the defence ministry in Niger has said its Army has killed more than two hundred and eighty Boko Haram militants near the south-east border with Nigeria in days of land and air raids.
The operations were carried out on the islands of Lake Chad and along the Komadougou Yobe river which serves as a natural border between Niger and Nigeria, and has suffered a string of recent attacks on its military bases.
More than 200 jihadists were killed in air strikes and a further 87 by ground troops since the offensive began on December 28, the ministry said in a statement read on state television.
It comes after Western African leaders held talks in November on the escalating attacks by the Nigerian Islamist group in the Lake Chad area, a strategic region where the borders of Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger converge.
