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Cameroon: Troops free 900 hostages held by Boko Haram

The Cameroon Army said Wednesday it has freed 900 Boko Haram hostages and killed 100 of the group’s fighters during a three-day raid last week.

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“He is suspect number 82 on the poster containing the photographs of 100 wanted suspected Boko Haram terrorists released by the Nigerian Army”, Mr. Usman said in a statement.

Both Badjeck and the defence ministry, which gave a brief statement on state television, cited the same figures of militant deaths and the number of people freed.

Cameroon has been fighting Boko Haram since the Islamist militants began cross border strikes in 2013.

Boko Haram claimed they were behind the terror attacks in the town of Fotokol in Cameroon’s far north on November 24 2015.

The military has reported that it destroyed dozens of Boko Haram camps and freed more than 1,000 kidnap victims in recent weeks.

FOLLOWING the arrest of a child for alleged involvement in terrorism, the Nigerian Army has called for thorough screening of people seeking refuge in camps housing internally displaced persons (IDPs).

For many years there was little to no surveillance of the border with Nigeria by Cameroon, enabling the jihadists to use the remote region as a rear base to stock its weapons, vehicles and supplies.

Last Saturday, two female suicide bombers blew themselves up in northern Cameroon, killing five and seriously wounding two soldiers.

Cameroonian troops are also part of a regional force – 8,700 strong, according to Reuters, with troops from Chad, Niger Nigeria and Benin – trying to defeat Boko Haram.

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However, the insurgents have been hit hard by military campaigns carried out on both sides of the Cameroon-Nigeria border since the start of this year.

Cameroon troops free 900 Boko Haram hostages