Dead bodies of Boko Haram assailants disappear without trace

Cameroon’s military squad has indicated that Nigerian Boko Haram militants attacked the military post in the Far North Region, Bonderie sparking a gun battle with soldiers who were at the post as at the time of their invasion last Friday.

According to local residents, dead bodies of Boko Haram militants who invaded Cameroon Military posts to battle with them were quickly buried to avoid them being identified.

In an interview with the Government Spokesperson, Issa Tchiroma told VOA that the heavily armed Boko Haram members attacked the border village of Bonderie in the early hours of Friday, July 11 but took off with a military vehicle and weapons.

“A group of armed men from the terrorist organization, Boko Haram attacked the bushy locality in the Far North region but our defense forces responded and the attackers went on the run and disappeared within the Nigerian territory,” he said.

Adding that the Cameroon military killed three of the assailants and one Cameroonian soldier wounded but the media reported that nine assailants and two Cameroonians were killed.

Bonderie resident, Dogo Ibrahim informed VOA that the attackers left with the corpses and the wounded, “there was random shooting in their village for at least 30 minutes and there were many corpses and blood everywhere but not a slight trace to locate the corpses have been successful since the attackers left.”

However, Bonderie military squad has confirmed that each time they kill Boko Haram militants; the remaining alive militants carry the corpses back to Nigeria making it impossible to identify the killed militants.

A local resident sociologist, Francois Bingono Bingono, also explained that the militants do not use coffins, dig deep graves or display signs to indicate where the bodies of their dead members are buried since “they choose areas that look like a desert and are windy to bury the dead bodies making it impossible to detect where corpses are buried 12 hours after they are interred.”

A Bonderie businessman, Moustapha Djiallo hinted VOA that at times the assailants are Cameroonians who have joined Boko Haram.

He said “there are people who live along the borders who can be Cameroonians or Nigerians but having the same tribe and some of these Cameroonians join Boko Haram and fight against the Cameroonian army.”

“So when they are killed, their people bury them quickly to avoid the military force from identifying them as Cameroonians therefore they just blame and link them to be only Nigerians,” Djiallo lamented.

The attack on Bonderie was the second time suspected Boko Haram have attacked this month. The first attacked was on the Zina military post which was seized for a whole night with the assailants stealing weapons at the post to Nigerian last week.

The spokesperson for Cameroon military, Colonel Badjeck told VOA that despite the setbacks, the military is determined to crush Boko Haram assailants.

Meanwhile, it is reported that Cameroon military has tightened security along its borders in an effort to stop the intrusion by Boko Haram, which has attacked several villages and used Cameroonian territory as a base and a refuge.