Attack attributed to Boko Haram jihadists in the Lake Chad region left behind 18 people dead, a Chadian military source said on Sunday.

“Boko Haram elements attacked a village south of Daboua,” not far from Chad’s border with Niger, at around 9:00 pm (2000 GMT) on July 19,  the military source said. The assailants “cut the throats of 18 people, wounded two others and kidnapped 10 women”.

Boko Haram’s Islamist insurgency has devastated the region since it took up arms in 2009 in Nigeria, leaving more than  20,000 people dead, forced to displace more than two million others and triggered a humanitarian crisis.

Chad, Cameroon and Niger have all joined the military effort by Nigeria to crush Boko Haram. Chad has seen a recent increase in activity by the group.