Cameroon: Army raid kills 100 Boko Haram fighters, frees 900 hostages
In a raid backed by an anti-Boko Haram task force, Cameroon鈥檚 army killed at least 100 Boko Haram fighters and freed 900 hostages on Wednesday, the army and defense ministry said.
Flags belonging to Islamic State were found in the raid, alongside an 鈥溾�� according to Joseph Beti Assomo, Cameroon鈥檚 minister of defense.聽
鈥淩ecently, countries in the region have been stepping up their fight against Boko Haram. And we鈥檝e also seen how the group responded with more violence, ,鈥� said Al Jazeera鈥檚 Ahmed Idris.
Fighting extremism has been an uphill battle for some African countries in recent months. Last week, gunmen affiliated with Al Qaeda raided an upscale hotel in Mali, killing 22.聽Earlier this year, Boko Haram went after Chad in that left 27 dead. A month later, in July, 聽killed at least 18 in Maiduguri, a city in northern Nigeria.
Despite the fact that some were able to escape, the bulk of 276 girls kidnapped at a government secretary school by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria last year,聽have still not been found聽despite international efforts to locate and free the women. Nigeria, which has been struggling to combat radical insurgent groups like Boko Haram, is just one in a handful of western and central African countries, including聽, in which the group operates.
Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the in March, saying they "will hear and obey in times of difficulty and prosperity."
Boko Haram, whose name is often translated, perhaps incorrectly, as 鈥淲estern education is forbidden,鈥� is one of the world鈥檚 deadliest terrorist groups, responsible for 6,644 deaths last year, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace think tank. The group formed in the early 2000s as a radical Islamist sect in northern Nigeria鈥檚 Borno province.
鈥淔rom early this year, what we have seen is the Boko Haram insurgency turning from merely a domestic national problem in Nigeria into what ,鈥� Cyril Mathias, a French Army colonel based in Chad, told The Wall Street Journal.
Part of the challenge of fighting against groups like Boko Haram is the unpredictability of the attacks, which are highly organized and spontaneous.聽
But according to some, Cameroon鈥檚 latest raid is a significant step in the right direction.聽
鈥淭he Boko Haram fighters are not as organized as they used to be, and training ,鈥� Aliyu Musa, an independent researcher of war and conflict studies told Al Jazeera. 鈥淸The raid] should have happened much earlier, because this terrorist group has been carrying out attacks in border regions.鈥�
