Local Editor

At least six people had been killed during a raid by Boko Haram militants outside Nigeria's northeastern city Maiduguri in Borno state, a police officer said on Wednesday.

A Cameroonian soldier had also died during a cross-border incursion from neighboring Nigeria by Boko Haram militants, a senior Cameroonian military source said.

In the fighting near Maiduguri, the militants entered Bale Mamman village to rustle livestock on Tuesday evening, police chief Aderemi Opadokun said. "Before the arrival of troops, six persons were shot dead," he said.

A military and a vigilante source said eight people had been killed and four women abducted during fighting that lasted about three hours.

Also on Wednesday, a senior Cameroonian military source said Boko Haram had killed a soldier from Cameroon in a cross-border incursion from Nigeria.

The battle took place in Achigachia in Cameroon's Far North region on Tuesday, said the source, who estimated the attackers may have lost around 20 men in the firefight.

Furthermore, Chad's President Idriss Deby said on Tuesday the regional offensive had crushed Boko Haram and it would be finished as a fighting force by the end of the year.

"We have decapitated Boko Haram. Our defense and security forces have recaptured their arms, which did so much damage," he said at a celebration to mark 55 years of Chad's independence.

"For my part, I would advise not to negotiate with a terrorist" he added.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau is wounded and had been replaced as leader by Mahamoud Daoud, he said, adding Shekau went to Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, after he was wounded.

Nonetheless, Nigeria's defense spokesman said it was not concerned with who led Boko Haram. "We are working [with Chad and others] towards a common end to ensure that we stamp out the terrorists and their arsenal," the spokesman said.

It was not clear how Deby had obtained his information, although rumors had been circulating in recent months that Shekau had gone on the run or even fled Nigeria altogether as a result of increased military operations against Boko Haram by both the Nigerian and Chadian governments.

Little seems known as of yet about the man named by Deby as his successor, whose name may well be a nom de guerre.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team