Boko Haram takes on Chadian forces in NE Nigeria town

Boko Haram on Feb. 11 launched a pre-dawn raid in Gamboru, northeastern Nigeria, looking to overwhelm Chadian troops who had pushed them out of the border town.
      
The military in N'Djamena said the militants were repelled but the counter-attack was an indication of the task facing regional forces aiming to crush the rebellion.
      
Troops from Chad, Cameroon and Niger have been deployed to fight the Islamists, whose bloody insurgency has claimed more than 13,000 lives since 2009 and now threatens Nigeria's neighbours.
      
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan was expected to make his first public comments since the ongoing operations were used as an excuse to delay the country's general election.
      
The head of state was due to talk about "current national issues" to a panel of journalists, with the question and answer session broadcast live on state-run television and radio.
      
Jonathan and his government have come under fire after the country's electoral commission announced a six-week postponement to Saturday's predicted knife-edge vote.
      
Nigeria's national security advisor, Sambo Dasuki maintained that his advice to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was not politically motivated.
      
He also told AFP in an interview that Boko Haram would effectively be crushed by the time of the rescheduled polling day, March 28.
                      
Boko Haram's counter-attack on Gamboru, which has been repeatedly targeted in the past, is an established tactic from the militants, who have seized dozens of towns and villages since mid-2014.
      
The extent of the rebels' control of the captured areas has been hard to verify, with claim and counter...