Army frees about 900 Boko Haram hostages

Cameroon’s Minister of Defence, Joseph Beti Assomo, said the defence forces have freed about 900 Boko Haram hostages.

According to him, neutralized hundreds of jihadists and seized from the Boko Haram militant, an important stock of weapons and ammunitions, as well as the white/black flags of the Islamic State group to which Boko Haram is affiliated.

Beti Assomo in a press release on Tuesday, December 1, disclosed that the gains of the defence forces against Boko Haram were the fruit of an operation carried out between November 26 to 28 that consisted of combing areas along the Cameroon-Nigeria border in the Far North Region in search of the jihadists.

He said that the success of the operation was thanks to the perfect synergy between the Cameroonian forces of Operations EMERGENCE 4 and ALPHA, Lake Chad Basin Joint Multinational Task Force, including the Nigerian army.

The Defence Minister used the occasion to congratulate the Cameroonian defence forces on behalf of President Paul Biya for their permanent commitment, bravery, determination and patriotic engagement to preserve the peace and territorial integrity of the country.

Assomo’s declaration came on the heels of media reports that Cameroon soldiers killed about 30 Boko Haram insurgents in a counter attack last week. Reports citing the 4th Combined Military Region on Maroua further indicated that Cameroonian forces in the same operation arrested close to 100 suspected Boko Haram militants in the border villages of Kote, Mba, Satile, Doderi and Walassa.