Boko Haram fighters have killed more than 100 people in the north Cameroon town of Fotokol, murdering residents inside their homes and a mosque, a local civic leader said yesterday.
The massacre comes amid a major regional offensive against the Islamic group, which has kidnapped hundreds and killed thousands in neighbouring northern Nigeria and has mounted bloody cross-border raids.
“Boko Haram entered Fotokol through Gambaru early in the morning and they killed more than 100 people in the mosque, in the houses and they burned property,” said the civic leader, reached by telephone. The militants shot one of his sons dead during the raid, he added.
Many of the dead were found with their throats slit, according to Cameroon's L'Oeil du Sahel newspaper.
Cameroon's information minister, Issa Tchiroma, declined to comment on the massacre. He said the army pushed Boko Haram out of the border town after heavy exchanges, which killed 50 fighters and six soldiers. – Reuters