Boko Haram, the brutal militant group best known for abducting around 200 Nigerian schoolgirls in April, has kidnapped the wife of Cameroonian Vice–Prime Minister Amadou Ali, as well as her maid, the BBC reports. (Ali himself managed to escape.) The attack took place at the Ali home in the north Cameroon town of Kolofata, which is near the country’s border with Nigeria. Reuters reports that Boko Haram also kidnapped a local religious leader, Seini Boukar Lamine, and five members of his family in Kolofata. Another three people there were reportedly killed.
Sunday’s incidents marked the third time that Boko Haram has attacked people in Cameroon since Friday. At a press conference, Cameroonian government spokesman Issa Tchiroma said that the country’s military had regained control of Kolofata after clashing with the militants, who are said to have used “unqualified violence.” “We do not have all the facts in order to give full information on the exact circumstances and the victim toll of this attack,” he added. Meanwhile, a Boko Haram bomb killed five people as they left a church in Kano, Nigeria, also on Sunday.
According to the BBC, Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad, and Niger recently formed “a 2,800-strong regional force” to combat Boko Haram. Hopefully the group effort will be more effective than what Nigeria has been able (or willing) to do on its own.
