Cameroon said Wednesday its military offensive against Boko Haram across the Nigerian border has made major progress, with scores of jihadists killed and hundreds of hostages freed since December.

But in a sign of continuing jihadist trouble, four would-be human bombs — two young boys and two teenaged girls — tried to strike in Cameroon’s Far North province Wednesday.

Only the bombers died in the attempted attacks which were foiled by security forces and local vigilantes.

Cameroonian troops have in recent weeks killed some 100 Boko Haram fighters and freed “hundreds of hostages” held by the group, Cameroon’s government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said Tuesday.

Some 30 other jihadists have been taken prisoner and returned to Nigeria.

“Hundreds of freed hostages have (also) been sent back,” Tchiroma said.

With access to the combat zones tightly controlled, it was impossible to verify the government’s claims.

Cameroonian troops have been conducting cross-border operations alongside their Nigerian allies in the Nigerian village of Ngoshe since December 19, Tchiroma said.

“Unfortunately … three (Cameroonian) soldiers lost their lives” in January, he said. One was killed in a blast, the other two in fighting.

The operation, Tchiroma said, is being carried out “in perfect synergy with the (Nigerian) army command”.

He described it as a response to repeated incursions into Cameroonian territory by Boko Haram.

On Wednesday, four young suicide bombers were killed in the restive Far North province, located just across the border from the epicentre of Boko Haram’s insurgency in Nigeria, regional governor Midjiyawa Bakari said.

Two vigilantes supporting the armed forces were lightly injured, he added.

Cameroon’s Far North province has been the frequent target of suicide attacks, with many of them carried out by children.

Boko Haram’s brutal insurgency, launched in northern Nigeria in 2009, has spread across the border to Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

At least 20,000 people have been killed and some 2.6 million displaced in the violence.

A suicide bombing in northern Cameroon has killed at least three people and injured around 20 others. Authorities believe the attack was the work of Islamist group Boko Haram.

Officials said a man on a motorcycle detonated explosives early Sunday after riding into a market in the town of Mora, near the border with Nigeria.

Midjiyawa Bakary, the governor of Cameroon’s Far North region, said three people plus the bomber were killed. Another five were seriously wounded and airlifted to another town for specialized hospital care.

No one has claimed responsibility, although a security source cited by Reuters said authorities believe the attack was carried out by militant group Boko Haram.

Cross border attacks

The Nigeria-based jihadi group has staged frequent cross border attacks in Cameroon and other countries in a bid to establish an Islamic caliphate in the region. At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than 2.8 million displaced since the group launched its insurgency in 2009.

Mora is home to the headquarters of a multi-national force fighting Boko Haram. Troops from Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and Chad make up the regional military campaign.

Last year Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Middle East-based terror group “Islamic State.”

nm/rc (Reuters, AFP, AP)

Some 1,000 suspected Boko Haram fighters from Nigeria attacked five towns in northern Cameroon over the weekend and briefly occupied a military camp on Sunday before being removed by the air force, an army spokesman said.

The heavily armed group attacked the military camp in Achigachia near the Nigerian border at around 4 a.m.. Following an intense battle, the army abandoned the camp, Lieutenant Colonel Didier Badjeck told Reuters by phone.

“After that, the head of state ordered the air force to carry out strikes. With the bombardment, the fighters were forced to decamp from Achigachia,” Badjeck said.

He could not immediately give the number of casualties from both sides. It is the first time Cameroon has used the air force against Boko Haram.

Islamist Boko Haram, which is fighting to create a caliphate in northern Nigeria, has stepped up attacks on both sides of the border, prompting Cameroon to sent thousands of soldiers to the region to stop the militants.

Cameroon state radio CRTV said the militants carried out attacks on five towns over the weekend and at least one Cameroonian soldier was killed.

“The attacks were carried out simultaneously at the localities of Mokolo, Guirvidig, Waza, Amchide and Makari, villages along the frontier with Nigeria,” CRTV radio reported.

Boko Haram has made several incursions in the Far-North Region of Cameroon this year, killing over 40 soldiers and recruiting hundreds from mainly unemployed youths in the area.

Cameroon army said last week it dismantled a training camp for the militants in northern Cameroon, arresting or killing dozens and seizing 84 children who were being trained there.

Credit: Reuters

In a statement by the Cameroonian government spokesman, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, “the Cameroonian response (to the attack) resulted in over 100 deaths among the aggressors.”

According to the statement, the fighting took place in the northern border town of Fotokol on Saturday.

“There were no casualties reported on the Cameroonian side after the attack,” the statement said, adding, “Our defense forces responded vigorously with mortar fire aimed at the positions held by units of the Boko Haram terrorist group that was behind the attack.”

The militants reportedly retreated to the Nigerian border town of Gamboru Ngala, which is under their control for over a week.
Nearly 650,000 Nigerians have fled their homes due to Boko Haram attacks and are displaced inside the country, while thousands more have taken refuge in neighboring countries, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says.