Cameroonian President Fires Two Army Officers After Boko Haram Raids

YAOUNDE (Reuters) - President Paul Biya on Tuesday dismissed two senior army officers in Cameroon's far north following Boko Haram attacks in which at least seven people were killed and the wife of a senior official was kidnapped.

Militants of the Nigerian Islamist group seized the wife of Cameroon's vice prime minister and killed at least three people on Sunday in an attack in the northern town of Kolofata involving more than 200 assailants. At least four soldiers were killed in two separate raids late last week.

According to the decree, announced over state radio, Colonel Youssa Gedeon, commander of the Gendarmerie Legion in the north, and Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Ngonga, commander of the 34th motorised infantry battalion in the same region, were both dismissed.

Both officers were at the forefront of Cameroon's response to the rising number of Boko Haram attacks in the region. Nigeria says the militants are using Cameroon as a rear base.

Cameroon has already introduced measures to increase security on its long, jungle border with Nigeria, deploying more than 1,000 soldiers, but has failed to stop the raids.

Reuters

BOKO HARAM: Cameroonian Troops Rescue Abducted Vice PM’s Wife

Security operatives in Cameroon have rescued wife of Vice Prime Minister Amadou Ali who was abducted by the Boko Haram sect on Sunday along
side a traditional ruler of Kolofata town, according to reports from BBC Hausa Service.

The Boko Haram members have been carrying out attacks in northern part of Cameroon from Sambisa Forest in Nigeria where they are said to have
established their base.
At least 16 people lost their lives in the rescue operations, reports say.
However, Cameroon information minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary said government was still investigating the matter to ascertain the actual
number of people killed.

A local religious leader and mayor, Seini Boukar Lamine, was also kidnapped in a separate attack on his home. Three people were killed during the daring raid. Boko Haram fighters clashed with the Cameroonian army in cross-border attacks twice since Friday, killing four soldiers. Cameroon has deployed more than 1,000 soldiers along its border to help combat the Nigerian armed group.

A Cameroonian court last week, sentenced 14 members of the sect to 20 years imprisonment after they were arrested with weapons in March around Marwa in northern Cameroon, says the BBC Hausa report.

Courtesy:
today.ng