Troops from Cameroon and Chad killed more than 250 Boko Haram militants in two days of heavy fighting in a major regional offensive against the Islamists from neighbouring Nigeria, their governments said on Wednesday. Cameroon said it forces fought off an attack on one of its border towns early on Wednesday by Boko Haram, a group that has kidnapped hundreds and killed thousands in northern Nigeria and mounted increasingly bloody cross-border raids.
At least 50 militants and six soldiers died in the fighting in Fotokol, information minister Issa Tchiroma said. Cameroon's L'Oeil du Sahel newspaper said Boko Haram fighters raided mosques and houses in the town, slitting people's throats and killing dozens. The reports could not be verified and Boko Haram does not give statements to the media. The Sunni Muslim jihadist group is seen as the main security threat to Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy and top oil producer, ahead of a February 14 election. The African Union last week authorised a regional force of 7,500 troops to fight the militants.
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