Cameroon’s army has killed at least 41 militants as it
fought off a wave of attacks along its border with Nigeria in an escalation in
the conflict, the country’s Information Minister, Issa Tchiroma, said in
Yaoundé on Monday. Mr. Tchiroma said that the coordinated assaults on five
towns and villages showed a change in tactics by Nigerian Boko Haram fighters,
who have focused on hit-and-run raids on individual settlements in the past.
"Boko Haram’s campaign to carve out an Islamist caliphate
has spread from its stronghold in Northeast Nigeria to neighbouring Cameroon. Raising
fears for an already unstable region also threatened by Islamist militants in
the Sahel," he said.
"Units of the Boko Haram group attacked Makari, Amchide,
Limani and Achigachia in a change of strategy which consists of distracting
Cameroonian troops on different fronts. Making them more vulnerable in the face
of the mobility and unpredictability of their attacks," Mr. Tchiroma said.
He said that no fewer than 34 militants were killed after
the army laid siege to a base used by the militants in Chogori and seven
others, and one soldier was killed near the town of Waza.
Army spokesperson, Didier Badjeck, told journalists that the
Islamists briefly occupied an army camp in Achigachia after a fierce fight, but
withdrew after air attacks.
"All the militants had now pulled back into Nigeria,"
Mr. Badjeck said.
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