Eighteen people have been killed in a brutal attack by suspected Boko Haram terrorists in the Lake Chad region, according to Chadian military on Sunday.

The assailants “cut the throats of 18 people, wounded two others and kidnapped 10 women”.

Boko Haram’s terror activities have devastated the region since it took up arms in 2009 in Nigeria, leaving at least 20,000 people dead, displacing more than two million others and triggering 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 attacks by the group. In May, six people were killed, including four government officials and a soldier, in a Boko Haram attack on a Chadian army checkpoint on an island in Lake Chad.

Recently, Nigerian police arrested eight persons suspected of taking part in the abduction of 276 Chibok schoolgirls in Borno state , in northern Nigeria in 2014.

The eight Boko Haram terrorists who were among 22 persons paraded, were said to have been arrested by operatives of the Inspector General Police Intelligence Response Team in Borno, Adamawa and adjoining communities.

Niger’s army said Saturday it killed “ten terrorists” after one of its military positions in the southwest of the country was attacked by Boko Haram.