“We killed 117 Boko Haram fighters in an offensive in the last two weeks. We lost two men and two injured,” Colonel Azem Bermandoa, spokesman of the Chadian army, told Anadolu Agency on Friday.

According to Bermandoa, several Boko Haram boats were destroyed and many weapons were seized during the offensive. He also said military operations are still ongoing in many villages in the Lake Chad Basin region, including Koungya, Merikouta, Choua and Blarigui.

The Chadian army’s offensive against the Nigerian-based armed group started on July 17.

Meanwhile, Cameroon security forces told Anadolu Agency on Friday that three suspected suicide bombers were arrested on Thursday night in Maroua near the Nigerian border.

“One of the three was carrying a bomb, but it was defused before the explosion. The other two that seem to be just accomplices had no explosives at the time of their arrest,” a security source told Anadolu Agency requesting anonymity.

The source said that according to the identity cards of those arrested, “the bomb carrier was a male and of Nigerian nationality. The two accomplices are males and are of Cameroonian nationality.”

In recent months, Boko Haram militants have intensified suicide attacks in Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon, causing several casualties and forcing villagers to leave.

Following recent summits on the Boko Haram insurgency, however, the Lake Chad Basin Commission comprising Nigeria, Niger Chad, Cameroon and Benin agreed to strengthen the regional force with at least 8,700 troops.

Backed by the African Union, the regional force comprises 3,200 soldiers from Nigeria, 3,000 from Chad, 950 from Cameroon, 750 from Niger and 750 from Benin.

The regional army would become operational starting Friday and will be headed by a Nigerian army general. Its headquarters are located in Ndjamena, the capital city of Chad.