Cameroon army repulses Boko Haram attack on military base

Cameroon’s army repelled an attack Monday by
Nigerian Boko Haram Islamists on a military base
bear the northwest border after intense fighting, a
military source said.
“A group of Boko Haram fighter attacked Kolofata
(in the far northwest) this morning. They
specifically targeted the military base in the town,”
a police source said.
“The fighting was intense, but they were pushed
back. We inflicted casualties upon them, there
were none on our side,” an official from the army’s
elite Rapid Intervention Battalion told AFP.
A local source said that residents fled the city “as
soon as people heard the first gunfire,” in the town,
which also houses police, elite army and local
government premises.
No casualty figures were given.
Boko Haram has seized dozens of towns and
villages in northeast Nigeria in the last six months
and now reportedly controls large parts of Borno
state, which borders Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
The territorial gains have led to fears of a total loss
of government control in the region and seen
Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan fiercely
criticised for his failure to end the insurgency.
The fighters of Boko Haram, which roughly means
“Western education is forbidden”, began sending
growing numbers of fighters into neighbouring
Cameroon last year.
More than 13,000 people have died since Boko
Haram launched its insurgency in 2009 and
hundreds of thousands more have been made
homeless.
Last month, Cameroon sent warplanes into action
against Boko Haram fighters for the first time, after
a large force of jihadists crossed the border and
seized a military camp.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau last week
threatened Cameroon in a video message on
YouTube, warning the country would suffer the
same fate as Nigeria.
Kolofata has been attacked by Boko Haram on
several occasions.
Several people were killed in an attack last July
and 27 people, including the wife of a deputy prime
minister, were kidnapped in two separate raids.
The hostages were freed after several weeks in
captivity.