News

August 14, 2015

Boko Haram kill 10 in Cameroon raid

Boko Haram Islamists killed 10 people, including two soldiers, and torched several homes during a raid in northern Cameroon, security sources said Thursday.

Wednesday’s attack in the town of Blame, near the Nigerian border, led to the deaths “of two soldiers from BIR (an elite army unit) and eight civilians,” a security source said.

A BIR officer also confirmed the toll.

The Islamists also burnt several houses in the town, which lies near Lake Chad, before retreating to Nigeria, the security source said.

A Cameroonian soldier was killed and two others wounded Tuesday in another Boko Haram attack in the north of the country.

Nigeria’s neighbours Chad, Cameroon and Niger, which have all suffered attacks by Boko Haram, launched a regional force earlier this year to end a conflict that has claimed more than 15,000 lives since 2009.

Many of the insurgents are hiding out in Lake Chad, a shallow, marshy water body dotted with hundreds of islets, and in Nigeria’s Sambisa Forest near the border with Cameroon.