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There were 50 children among some 80 people abducted by Boko Haram’s Takfiri militants in a cross-border attack on villages in northern Cameroon. Cameroon's Information Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary confirmed that three people were also killed in the Sunday attack, which targeted several villages including Mabass along the border with Nigeria.

“According to our initial information, around 30 adults, most of them herders, and 50 young girls and boys aged between 10 and 15 years were abducted," a senior army officer said. "They burnt to ashes almost 80 houses," he added. The abductions came a few days after Amnesty International released satellite images of the group’s assault on two towns in northern Nigeria.

Earlier on January 15, Cameroonian President Paul Biya announced that Chad would send military forces to help his government forces fight the Boko Haram militants. On January 12, the Cameroonian army killed 143 Boko Haram militants as they mounted an offensive on a military camp in the northern town of Kolofata, located approximately 840 kilometers (521 miles) northeast of the capital, Yaoundé. Cameroon also launched airstrikes against Boko Haram on December 28, after nearly 1,000 militants from the group assaulted a military camp located near the northern border. The Cameroonian troops in the camp were forced to flee although the base was retaken later.

Culled from Presstv

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Ngwa Bertrand

19.Jan.2015

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According to our military informant in Maroua, 24 people among the 80 taken hostage by Boko Haram in Mabass and Maksy during the attack in Mayo Tsanaga Division were released as a result of a military operation conducted by elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR).

This rescue operation is the largest conducted so far by Cameroon Special Forces against the Nigerian Islamic sect Boko Haram in the Far North region ever since the conflict began with Cameroon. Cameroon government spokesman Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary confirmed our earlier report that 80 persons were seized in Mabass and Maksy among them 50 children.

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Ngwa Bertrand

19.Jan.2015

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Boko Haram has destroyed two villages in the district of Mokolo an eye witness has hinted Cameroon Concord. The Nigerian Islamic sect launched a surprise attack this Sunday morning, in the district of Mokolo. We are unable to confirm details of the casualties meted on Cameroon by the Boko Haram militants. Cameroon Concord’s chief intelligence officer in Maroua has reported that 80 people including women and children were taken hostage this morning by fighters of the Nigerian Islamist sect, in the villages of Mabass and Maksy in the Mokolo district in Mayo-Tsanaga Division. Our military informant also reported that the two villages were completely destroyed and three people were found dead. Cameroon Concord will bring you official confirmation from the Cameroon government spokesman as soon as Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary addresses local and international media later today.

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Ngwa Bertrand

18.Jan.2015

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Nigerian troops have repelled an attack by suspected Boko Haram militants, killing dozens of terrorists in the northeastern state of Borno, the military says. Nearly 80 Boko Haram Takfiri terrorists were killed during an attack on a military base in the town of Biu, the largest town in Borno South, on Wednesday, the military acknowledged. The Nigerian Defense Headquarters said five terrorists, including foreign nationals, and two anti-aircraft guns were captured during the two-hour gun fight.

The incident marks the latest in a series of violent attacks by the Boko Haram Takfiri group in Nigeria. Around 150 people were killed in an attack by Boko Haram militants on the Nigerian town of Baga in Borno state on January 3. Reports say, however, that as many as 2,000 people may have been killed in the attack. The Human rights group, Amnesty International, said the massacre could be the deadliest in the history of the militant group.

Meanwhile, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan stopped for a surprise visit in the volatile city of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, a spokesman said.He spent three hours meeting with survivors of the attack. Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for numerous deadly shooting attacks and bombings in various parts of Nigeria which have claimed the lives of thousands of people since 2009. According to the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations, the violence, which has forced 1.5 million people to flee their homes, killed over 10,000 people last year alone.

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Ngwa Bertrand

16.Jan.2015

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Satellite images have revealed the shocking scale of destruction wreaked by Boko Haram militants during attacks last week, when scores of civilians were murdered. Before and after satellite images taken on 2 and 7 January show how the neighbouring towns of Baga and Doron Baga (also known as Doro Gowon) were razed to the ground. Human rights charity Amnesty International has reported that over 3,700 structures were damaged or completely destroyed during this period, and other nearby towns and villages were also attacked.

Interviews with eyewitnesses, local government officials and activists conducted by representatives from the human rights charity suggest that Boko Haram militants brutally shot hundreds of civilians during the attacks. The number of lives claimed in the massacres in Baga and Doron Baga remains unclear. Initial reports suggested that 2,000 people were killed, but the Nigerian Government has since reduced the figure to 150. Daniel Eyre, Nigeria researcher for Amnesty International, said: “These detailed images show devastation of catastrophic proportions in two towns, one of which was almost wiped off the map in the space of four days.Global Peace Index 2014: 

“Of all Boko Haram assaults analysed by Amnesty International, this is the largest and most destructive yet. It represents a deliberate attack on civilians whose homes, clinics and schools are now burnt out ruins.” The marginalised part of the country is semi-arid desert that turns to lush forest around Lake Chad and is home to traders, subsistence farmers, herdsmen and fishermen. As Baga is isolated and Boko Haram militants are in control of the area, it is difficult to verify the facts surrounding the tragedy, he explained.

While Nigeria’s Director of Defence Information stated that the number of people killed in Baga - including Boko Haram fighters - did not exceed 150, the images and eye witness accounts suggest that the final death toll is likely to be much higher, he argued. “Residents have not been able to return to bury the dead, let alone count their number. But through these satellite images combined with graphic testimonies a picture of what is likely to be Boko Haram’s deadliest attack ever is becoming clearer,” said Mr Eyre. 

Fires destroyed or damaged over 3,100 structures in Doro Baga. Eyewitnesses told Amnesty International that desperate residents fled the town by boat across Lake Chad. The harrowing testimonies are backed by the satellite images, which show how the wooden fishing boats which dotted the shoreline on 2 January had disappeared by 7 January. And in Baga, a densely populated town less than two square kilometres in size, approximately 620 structures were damaged or completely ravaged by fire.

A man in his fifties told Amnesty that he fled the attack in Baga, and hid in the bush where he was discovered by Boko Haram fighters and detained for four days. “They killed so many people. I saw maybe around 100 killed at that time in Baga. I ran to the bush. As we were running, they were shooting and killing.” Others who fled describe seeing many more corpses in the bush. “I don’t know how many but there were bodies everywhere we looked,” one woman told Amnesty.

Médecins sans Frontières reported yesterday that 5,000 survivors of the attack on Baga are currently staying in a camp in Maiduguri. Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency (UNHRC) reported last week that some 7,300 Nigerian refugees had arrived in western Chad. The attacks in north east Nigeria demonstrate how Boko Haram’s ferocity has strengthened over the past 12 months, following a 6 year campaign of insurgency. The latest wave of attacks have further destabilised Africa's most populous nation as it prepares for elections.

Reporting by AP

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Ngwa Bertrand

15.Jan.2015

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Five new bodies of Boko Haram militants killed by the Cameroon army were discovered this morning under the Kerawa Bridge some 7 kilometres from the Kolofata district in the Mayo-Sava Division in the Far North by some inhabitants of the locality.

A military official whose name we are withholding told Cameroon Concord immediately after the discovery was made that the bodies were probably those of seriously wounded Boko Haram fighters who could not get to their base in neighbouring Nigeria.

It is vital to state in this report that after the battle of Kolofata, the Cameroon government placed the official death toll at 143 for the terrorists and a Cameroonian soldier. This new discovery takes the tally to a hundred and forty eight.

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Ngwa Bertrand

14.Jan.2015

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