Yaounde, Sep 21 (IANS) At least 11 civilians were killed when Boko Haram militants raided an island in Lake Chad near Ngouboua in Chad’s Lake Province, local media and the army said Monday.
Army official Moussa Djibrine said that on Sunday, the militants arrived by canoe and opened fire on civilians who were fishing, killing seven men and four women, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Soldiers alerted to the incident launched a pursuit operation and killed nine of the attackers, he said.
Lake Province, which borders Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon, frequently faces attacks by Boko Haram and other jihadist groups operating in the Lake Chad basin.
Last week, At least 13 civilians were killed, and another was injured in an overnight attack blamed on Boko Haram militants in Cameroon’s Far North region, an official told Xinhua.
The attack occurred Thursday between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. local time in Madegoua, a locality in the Makary subdivision of the Logone-et-Chari division, while residents were asleep.
The official, who requested anonymity, said the militants invaded the locality and killed the 13 civilians on the spot. The lone survivor was rushed to a local hospital, where he was receiving treatment.
Local municipal authorities said the attack was believed to be a reprisal after security forces seized a large stock of ammunition intended for Boko Haram fighters several months ago.
In August, suspected Boko Haram fighters killed at least eight people and injured one in an overnight attack on Kangaleri village in the Mayo-Sava division of Cameroon’s Far North region, local sources said.
The sources said the attack occurred at around 11 p.m. local time on August 7, when the gunmen entered the village under cover of darkness, a tactic the group frequently uses, before fleeing the area.
Six residents were killed at the scene, while three others were badly wounded and taken for treatment. Two of the injured later died in a hospital.
–IANS
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