No fewer than 15 people were killed on Thursday, January 1, when suspected Boko Haram militants attacked a bus in northern Cameroon.
This was disclosed on Saturday by a senior local security official and a businessman. According to Leadership report, the senior officer said he feared the death toll would rise.
A senior officer in the military’s BIR rapid reaction unit deployed in the region who pleaded anonymity said: “Boko Haram elements on Thursday attacked a bus that was transporting many passengers from Kousseri to Maroua and killed 25 persons on the spot.”
He added that said another 10 people had been severely injured and taken to Maroua hospital. Foncha Ngeh, a local businessman who is based in Maroua, said travelers who reached the town of Maroua had confirmed the incident.
He said they told him there were at least 15 dead in the incident but many more had been injured and were being transported to Maroua for treatment. He explained that there had been a string of other attacks in the region, carried out by Islamists but also ordinary bandits targeting people traveling during the holidays with lots of cash.
However, Cameroonian authorities were not available for comment on the attack. Over the last year, Boko Haram, which has killed thousands in its struggle to create a caliphate in northern Nigeria, has stepped up attacks on both sides of the border, forcing Cameroon to dispatch thousands of troops to its north.
They were said to have recruited hundreds of youths during raids in Cameroon’s Far North region this year. Recently, a camp where children aged between 8 and 15 years were being trained as soldiers was demolished by State gendarmes in Cameroon. No fewer than 41 Boko Haram insurgents were killed by Cameroon’s armyalong the country’s border with Nigeria about a week ago.
source by naijnews