11 Killed In Boko Haram Attack In Cameroon

Nigerian soldiers prepare to head off on patrol to search for Boko Haram militants outside Maiduguri in Borno State, in Nigeria’s northeast on March 25, 2016 (Nigeria News/File)

At least 11 people were killed by terrorists belonging to Islamist group, Boko Haram, eight others were abducted in the overnight raid on a village in northern Cameroon near the Nigerian border, officials said on Friday.

The attackers burned down around 30 houses in Gakara village, just outside the town of Kolofata, which has been a frequent target of suicide bombings by the Islamist group.

An army colonel put the death toll at 11, while a district official said that 15 people had been killed.

The mayor of Kolofata confirmed that an attack had taken place but said he did not know the death toll.

Boko Haram attacks have killed more than 20,000 people and displaced 2.7 million during the group’s eight-year insurgency to carve out an Islamic caliphate in the Lake Chad region.

“The attack happened around midnight.

“The Boko Haram assailants arrived.

“They set 32 houses on fire killed, pillaged, and traumatised the population,” said the district official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak.

“Many people fled the village for a camp near Kolofata that houses thousands displaced by Boko Haram violence,’’ he said.