The killing of 143 militants from the Nigeria-based Islamic extremist group could be a major blow to their expansion strategy. Hundreds of people died during a recent Boko Haram attack on a Nigerian garrison town near the border.
Cameroonian soldiers killed at least 143 Boko Haram fighters when the Islamist militant group attacked a military base along the Nigerian border on Monday, amid fears that the insurgency could spiral into a broader regional crisis.
Cameroon's minister of Ccmmunications, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, said in a statement that the failed assault resulted in the heaviest loss
sustained so far by Boko Haram in Cameroon. In addition to the 143
militants killed, he added, the group lost “important warfare equipment
made up of assault rifles of various brands, heavy weapons and bullets
of all calibers.”
Mr. Bakary
said one Cameroonian solider was killed and four were wounded in the
assault on the military base in Kolofata, a town in the far northwest of
Cameroon.The raid was the latest in a series of increasingly brazen attacks by
Boko Haram from its stronghold in northeastern Nigeria. On
Saturday, explosives strapped to a girl said to be no older than 10
years old detonated at a crowded marketplace in the city of Maiduguri, killing at least 20 people and wounding many more. As The New York Times reports:
Yaoundé
– Cameroon’s army has said it killed 143 Boko Haram fighters, with the
government saying it was the biggest defeat it had inflicted to date on
the Islamist group.
The government spokesman, Issa Bakary, made the announcement on Tuesday in Yaoundé.
He said the insurgents were killed after they attacked a military camp in Kolofata, in the north of Cameroon.
The military initially said that 143 Boko Haram fighters had died in the over five hours of fighting.
Bakary said the battle ended after the army bombed the attackers, forcing them to retreat to the Nigerian border.
“ However, Cameroon lost one soldier,’’ he said.
The Central African country has deployed over 1,000 troops in its Far North region, where Boko Haram members frequently enter from Nigeria to stage attacks.
Boko Haram, which wanted to create an Islamist state in Nigeria, had killed thousands of people in the country’s north east in 2014.
The government spokesman, Issa Bakary, made the announcement on Tuesday in Yaoundé.
He said the insurgents were killed after they attacked a military camp in Kolofata, in the north of Cameroon.
The military initially said that 143 Boko Haram fighters had died in the over five hours of fighting.
Bakary said the battle ended after the army bombed the attackers, forcing them to retreat to the Nigerian border.
“ However, Cameroon lost one soldier,’’ he said.
The Central African country has deployed over 1,000 troops in its Far North region, where Boko Haram members frequently enter from Nigeria to stage attacks.
Boko Haram, which wanted to create an Islamist state in Nigeria, had killed thousands of people in the country’s north east in 2014.
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