YAOUNDE, Cameroon: Cameroon’s army has killed 27
members of Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram near a
northern town, state radio said Wednesday, in a sign of
growing cross-border activity by the militants.
The Boko Haram fighters crossed the border into
Cameroon earlier this week, after attacking a military
base and police station in Nigeria and apparently
sending some 480 Nigerian troops retreating across the
frontier.
“Cameroon soldiers have killed 27 Boko Haram
elements during an attack in a locality near Fotokol in
the far-north,” state radio CRTV said, adding that the
deaths occurred Monday and Tuesday. There was no
word on any Cameroonian casualties.
A Cameroonian soldier in the region said the militants
had been pushed back into Nigeria, with calm returning
to the area Wednesday.
In recent weeks, Boko Haram, which is seeking to carve
out a de facto Islamic state in northern Nigeria, has
stepped up attacks in Cameroon, leading the central
African country to increase deployments along its
jungle border.
But Cameroon has not always been successful in
fending off Boko Haram raids. President Paul Biya
dismissed two senior army officers last month following
attacks in which at least seven people were killed and
the wife of the vice prime minister was kidnapped.
SOURCE
