The regional offensive force to take on Boko Haram is taking shape.  US Special Forces are already in Chad, doubling down on training of that nation’s battle-tested troops, which have racked up a series of victories over the terrorists.

“Even before the conflict with Boko Haram, we were preparing to face a group like them,” said Captain Zakaria Magada.  His Special Anti-Terrorist Group (SATG) is equipped and trained by the United States.  “Boko Haram is just a militia of civilians.  We are an organized army.  They cannot face up to us.”

The Chadian military claims to have killed more than 200 Boko Haram militants in a battle near Gambaru, a Nigerian town close to the border with Cameroon.  One soldier was killed and nine are injured.  There’s no independent verification of the Chadian army’s numbers.  But there’s no doubt that once Chad got into the fight, Boko Haram started to lose captured territory, such as Baga, which was reclaimed by Nigeria last week.

Next month, the regional task force of Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon, Benin, and Niger will begin a major air and ground offensive under the command of a Nigerian officer.  After that, the commanding position will rotate among the allies.  The US is proving training, communications equipment, and intelligence. 

Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has been faulted for his country’s lackadaisical response to Boko Haram, so lame that it emboldened the group to mount cross-border attacks which necessitated the five-nation task force.  Jonathan, up for reelection in delayed elections at the end of March, now says the tide has “definitely turned” and Boko Haram is on the back foot.

But Boko Haram is demonstrating that despite its military losses, it can still lash out.  More than 27 people have been killed this week in suicide bombings in and beyond Borno State, where the group was attempting to create an Islamic caliphate for itself.