At least 17 fighters from the Nigerian Islamic extremist group Boko Haram have died in clashes with Cameroon troops in the border town of Amchide, informed sources said Tuesday.
In the nearby village of Gouzoudou meanwhile two women carried out a botched suicide attack, injuring two farmers.
“Fifteen Boko Haram (fighters) were killed Tuesday and several others injured,” a source close to regional authorities told AFP after the clash.
Two further members of the group, which is affiliated to Islamic State, died in a Monday night confrontation with soldiers, the source added, saying the army did not incur any casualties.
A security source who did not wish to be identified indicated that “Boko Haram made an incursion into Amchide yesterday” but were pushed back by Cameroonian troops.
The source added they returned Tuesday but were likewise repulsed.
Amchide is just over the border from the Nigerian city of Banki, which has been occupied for around a year by Boko Haram and which Nigerian troops are preparing to retake, according to Cameroonian sources.
At the entrance to Gouzoudou village, which is also located in Cameroon’s far north, two female suicide bombers blew themselves up, a security source told AFP.
“The two suicide attackers appeared to have been aiming to blow themselves up on Monday, which is market day in the village, but it was guarded by the security forces,” a source close to the authorities said.
The two women hid and carried out the attack at dawn Tuesday.
“Two people who were on their way to the fields were wounded,” the source added.
More than 100 people have been killed in a total of 13 suicide attacks by Boko Haram in Cameroon’s far north since July.
Troops from both Nigeria and Cameroon belong to a multinational regional joint task also comprising forces from Benin, Chad and Niger tasked with driving back Boko Haram as it seeks to spread its sphere of influence.
The extremists have killed around 15,000 people in a six-year insurgency which has left more than two million homeless.
(AFP)
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