60 Boko Haram fighters killed, 5,000 hostages rescued in Cameroun
Reuters is reporting that West African forces under the umbrella of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) have killed about 60 Boko Haram fighters and freed 5,000 people held by the insurgents.
The massive victory was recorded in an operation in which the Islamist group’s hideout along the Nigeria-Cameroon border were also destroyed, Cameroonian officials said, on Wednesday.
“(The) hostages freed consisted mostly of women, children and elderly people,” communications minister, Issa Tchiroma Bakary told a news conference.
He added that “the 5,000 people were saved after a sweep at the border within Cameroonian territory … who were hostages that could not leave the villages,” adding that “more than 60 terrorists were … neutralised.”
Also, 21 Boko Haram suspects were arrested in the raid in the Mandara Mountains between Feb. 26 and March 7. A fuel depot was destroyed in the raid and weapons, motorcycles, around 50 bicycles, flags and “various propaganda objects” were recovered.
Bakary said no Cameroonian soldiers were killed in the raid, although one was gravely wounded.