World

Cameroon says troops have freed 900 hostages held by Boko Haram extremists

Associated Press

+ FOLLOW

Published: 1:36pm, 3 Dec, 2015

Updated: 12:39pm, 16 Apr, 2016

Why you can trust SCMP

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY REINNIER KAZE A picture taken on February 16, 2015 shows members of self-appointed vigilance committee hunting down and fighting Boko Haram Islamic group, standing in the village of Lding Lding, northern Cameroon. For over a year, in Yaounde as in other areas of northern Cameroon, local groups organise themselves to hunt down Boko Haram's Islamist fighters. Besides its murderous raids, Boko Haram perpetrated since July at least 16 suicide bombings in the region, killing more than 100 people. AFP PHOTO / REINNIER KAZE

A multinational force freed 900 hostages held by Nigeria’s Boko Haram extremists, killed more than 100 fighters and arrested 100 others last week, Cameroon’s government spokesman said.

Hostages from Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad were held in several camps and were being trained as suicide bombers, fighters and thieves, Issa Tchiroma Bakary said Wednesday. Joint forces from Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Benin carried out the sweep from November 27 to 29, he said.

Troops also arrested 100 fighters, including a group leader, from Boko Haram's strongholds in the Sambisa Forest, which straddles northeastern Nigeria and Cameroon, and in the Lake Chad area, Bakary said.

The freed are being reunited with their families, he said. Trauma care is available for those who need it, including young girls and women who might have been used as sex slaves, he said.

Nigerian troops have rescued hundreds of Boko Haram captives this year but none of the 219 girls kidnapped from a school in Chibok town. Their mass abduction in April 2014 sparked international outrage against the extremists and Nigeria's government for failing to rescue them.

Boko Haram's 6-year-old Islamic uprising has killed an estimated 20,000 people and driven 2.3 million from their homes, according to Amnesty International and the United Nations.

The militants have expanded attacks into Cameroon, Chad and Niger — countries contributing troops to a regional force intended to wipe out the extremists.

Two teen female suicide bombers detonated explosives late Tuesday in the north Cameroon town Waza, killing six people, Cameroon's Far North province governor, Midjiyawa Bakary, said Wednesday. Soldiers killed a third suicide bomber before she could attack, he said.

Boko Haram has also been planting land mines in north Cameroon, said military official Colonel Jacob Kodji. Two Cameroonian soldiers were killed Monday by a land mine in Gangse village, he said.