YAOUNDE — Cameroon’s army has taken down a part of the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram, arresting nearly 100 Islamist rebels and freeing 900 hostages, according to the country’s government.
The operation lasted three days, according to a spokesman, in which Cameroon forces rescued locals, along with hostages from Nigeria and Chad. The anti-socials, who were located in the Sambisa Forest and Lake Chad, were training captives to serve the organization as thieves and suicide bombers; some were allegedly used as sex slaves.
The rescue operation was publicly announced a day after an incident in which two suicide bombers, both teenage girls, blew themselves up in the Cameroonian town of Waza. Although officials managed to take down a third perpetrator, six people died during the attack, some of them civilians trained to protect the city against these terrorist attempts.
The Waza locality used to be a touristic spot thanks to its proximity to a national park, however, it lost appeal to foreigners after Chad and Nigeria became targets for terrorist attacks.
According Joseph Beti Assomo, Cameroon’s Defense Minister, the special operation lasting from November 26 to 28 neutralized about a hundred jihadists and allowed officials to confiscate a large stock of weapons and ammunition, as well as IS flags.
Beti stated that the operation’s success was thanks to the collaboration between Nigeria’s army and the security forces of Cameroon, which is currently focused in combating the Boko Haram group.
The northern area of Cameroon has suffered several attacks by suicide bombers since July. The Islamist terror organization has been orchestrating attacks near the borders of Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad throughout last year, especially because of the lack of surveillance in the areas.
The Cameroonian government is currently working on improving the security of the borders to lessen criminal activity from jihadists.
Source: Yahoo! News