Nine people killed in fresh Boko Haram attack in Cameroon
The Ministry of Defence said hundreds of Boko Haram fighters stormed the locality of Dabanga on the night of Saturday to Sunday on board light tactical vehicles and motorcycles.
CAPE TOWN, March 30 (ANA) – Nine people including two civilians, a soldier and six Boko Haram fighters were killed during an attack in the locality of Dabanga, in the Logone and Chari Division of the Far North region of Cameroon, Journal du Cameroun reported on Tuesday.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence, hundreds of Boko Haram armed fighters stormed the locality of Dabanga on the night of Saturday to Sunday on board light tactical vehicles and motorcycles.
Security forces present in the area launched a counter-attack that led to a fierce battle that lasted for several hours.
In the course of the battle, two civilians and one soldier were killed. Two other soldiers were injured, one of whom was said to have been evacuated to the Hôpital de la Renaissance in Ndjamena, Chad, for emergency neurosurgical treatment.
One armoured vehicle belonging to security forces was partially damaged, while 10 shops and one cargo truck burnt down, Journal du Cameroun reported.
Attacks by Boko Haram rebels have been recurrent in this part of Cameroon.
Cameroon is one of the African countries facing a humanitarian crisis as a combination of deadly attacks by armed groups in the Far North region and growing violence in the English-speaking regions continue to trigger massive displacement.
Most displacement associated with conflict in the Central African nation has historically occurred in the Far North, the poorest region of the country and the one that suffers the most from the Boko Haram insurgency, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), a global source of data and analysis on internal displacement.
In 2020, however, seven in 10 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Cameroon were forced to flee because of violence in the English-speaking regions.
Armed groups fighting to secede from the rest of the country have been targeting schools and teachers they say are sponsored by the central government in French-speaking Yaoundé. Entire families are being forced to flee repeatedly to avoid kidnappings and harassment.
The country has been racked by protests and violence since 2017, with residents in English-speaking regions saying they have been marginalised for decades by the central government and the French-speaking majority. They are calling for independence or a federal state.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher
