Five people killed in terrorist attack by Boko Haram in Cameroon

Boko Haram militants carried out overnight attack in north Cameron killing five people. The militants were hunting for soldiers in a village near Lake Chad.

“Five civilians were killed by Boko Haram in Blaram,” a village in the Blangoua district of Cameroon’s Far North region, a local official said.

Two soldiers were also injured in the assault and a military base set on fire, the officer said, AFP reported.

“Boko Haram fighters attacked the post around 1 am. Fighting erupted between them and the soldiers, but the troops made a strategic retreat because they were outnumbered,” a Blangoua district official said.

The civilians were killed in their homes by attackers searching for soldiers, the official said. The village of Blaram is located on dry land near Lake Chad.

Based in neighbouring Nigeria, Boko Haram has stepped up attacks from bases hidden in the Lake Chad area, where the borders of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria converge.

Cameroon says the group has carried out nearly 13,000 attacks on its territory since 2014, with the loss of “several thousand” lives.

The insurgency has forced more than 250,000 people to flee their homes and triggered an influx of 60,000 people from Nigeria.

Accordingt to AFP, Boko Haram was formed in Nigeria but attacks have spread to neighbouring countries.

Source: Aawsat