(AP) Boko Haram attacked a village in northern Cameroon early Sunday, killing three people and staging its largest kidnapping yet in the country, the information minister said, adding that some of the hostages were children.
In a separate attack in Nigeria, a suicide bomber killed four people and
injured 35 others in the northeast town of Potiskum, according to a Nigerian
media outlet.
The Cameroon attack occurred in Mabass village, in the Far North region,
Issa Tchiroma Bakary said. He said 80 houses were destroyed and ``between 30 and 50''
people were believed to have been abducted.
``We are dealing with barbaric people, lawless people,'' Bakary said. ``Nothing can
prevent them from assassinating.''
The attacks in Nigeria and Cameroon highlight the growing regional threat
posed by Boko Haram. The attacks occurred three days after Cameroon President
Paul Biya announced Chad would send ``an important contingent'' to support Cameroon's
army as it tries to repel the extremists' intensifying offensive.
On Sunday, Chadian troops began arriving in Cameroon, heading straight to the north,
Cameroon's information minister said.
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Chad's capital, N'Djamena, on Saturday
to support the deployment, according to an article posted on the official website
of Chad's presidency.
Boko Haram has been recruiting fighters in Cameroon, Chad and Niger, and the group
recently issued a video threatening Biya.
The attack in Potiskum, the largest commercial center in Nigeria's Yobe state, occurred
at around 10 a.m. near a gasoline station, Channels Television said. There was no
immediate claim of responsibility.
The suicide bombing was the third such attack this month in Potiskum, and came as
Boko Haram has escalated attacks and seized more territory in Nigeria's northeast.
On Jan. 3, the group swept into the Nigerian town of Baga, near Chad, for one of its
most brazen assaults yet, overrunning a military base and killing hundreds of civilians
over several days, according to witness accounts.
The assault spurred further talk of organizing a multinational force to fight the
rebels, though it does not appear imminent.
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