Cameroon air strikes bombs Boko Haram positions
First air strikes by Cameroon come after armed group from neighbouring Nigeria seized a military camp.
Cameroon's air force has bombed Boko Haram positions in the Far North province of the country for the first time after the armed group from neighbouring Nigeria seized a military camp, the government has said.
First air strikes by Cameroon come after armed group from neighbouring Nigeria seized a military camp.
Cameroon's air force has bombed Boko Haram positions in the Far North province of the country for the first time after the armed group from neighbouring Nigeria seized a military camp, the government has said.
President Paul Biya personally ordered Sunday's air strike, which forced the Boko Haram fighters to flee the camp at Assighasia, Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary said in a statement late on Sunday.
"Fighter planes went into action for the first time since the start of the conflict" on Cameroon's side of the border, after several months of deadly raids on troops and civilians by Boko Haram, Bakary added.
"After two strikes and heavy fire ... the assailants fled the Assighasia camp, ... losing several fighters," the minister said, adding that military operations were still under way and that "the toll from combat will be released once the operational evaluation is complete".
A Boko Haram squad attacked the Assighasia camp on Sunday morning and the "Cameroonian defence forces had to withdraw after trying to defend the position", the government statement said.
