Cameroon and Nigeria kill 92 militants and free 850 captives

On 26 February, joint military operations between Cameroon and Nigeria against a Boko Haram camp resulted in the deaths of 92 militants and the release of 850 captives. The operation took place in the Nigerian village of Kumshe (close to the border with Cameroon). Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, said on 28 February that Boko Haram was no longer in a position to cause serious threat to his administration’s development programme, and argued that since he came to office in May 2015, the group has been systematically decimated.

Cameroon’s army has killed 92 members of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram and freed 850 villagers in a joint operation with Nigerian forces, the country’s government has said.

The operation in the Nigerian village of Kumshe, close to the border with Cameroon, was conducted under the auspices of a multinational force fighting Boko Haram, according to the statement from Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Cameroon’s communications minister.

“Two Cameroonian soldiers were killed [during the operation] by an accidental mine explosion. Five other soldiers were wounded,” Bakary said, adding that the army captured weapons and ammunition and found a centre for production of homemade mines.

There was no immediate comment from Nigeria or independent confirmation of the operation or death toll.

Boko Haram is seeking to carve out an emirate in north-eastern Nigeria and has staged a campaign of suicide and other attacks in Cameroon, Chad and Niger over the past year, including killing as many as 1,000 in Cameroon.

The US military calls Boko Haram the most violent extremist group in the world. The group gained global notoriety for kidnapping 276 schoolgirls in Nigeria in 2014 and is thought to have killed more than 15,000 people over six years.