Cameroon army kills Boko Haram insurgents, dismantles training camp

  

Cameroon’s army yesterday said it has dismantled a training camp for Boko Haram militants.It is the first time the army has dismantled a camp and appears to represent a further success for the military after it said it killed 116 militants on Wednesday.

Dozens of militants were arrested or killed and 84 children who were being trained theat the camp seized, the army said. Reuters quoted spokesman for Cameroon’s Ministry of Defence, Lieutenant Colonel Didier Badjeck as saying that local people in northwest Cameroon alerted the military at the weekend to the camp in Guirvidig locality, near the border with northeastern Nigeria.

“The Rapid Intervention Battalion of our army immediately launched an attack, seized 84 children between seven and 15 who were undergoing training in the camp, arrested 45 of the trainers and killed many more,” he told Reuters. At press time, there was no independent confirmation.

The children are being investigated to determine whether they are Cameroonian or Nigerian while the 45 militant trainers arrested will be transferred to the capital Yaounde, he said. Badjeck said there was no precise toll because the fighters fled in pick-up trucks carrying their dead, adding that three pick-ups were burned. He did not say whether the army suffered any casualties during the operation.

Jean-Pierre Mbida, a soldier with the Rapid Intervention Battalion tasked fighting Boko Haram, said the area where the camp was discovered had been “relatively calm.” He said soldiers would search the area for other hideouts and training camps.

Boko Haram has killed hundreds of people in northeastern Nigeria this year as it campaigns for an Islamist state. The group has also attacked other cities and stepped up cross-border incursions into Cameroon, prompting Cameroon to deploy troops to its northern region.