Boko Haram Plans More Attacks, Recruits Many Young People
AFP
The Nigerian Islamist movement Boko Haram has recruited and trained
hundreds of young Cameroonians to carry out attacks in their own
country, according to the police and civilians.
As
the militant group seeks to gain a foothold in the poor, rural north of
Cameroon, experts warn that violence may spread beyond border areas to
other parts of the central African country.
Boko
Haram has recruited many young people from Cameroons Far North region, a
police officer from the area told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The
hardline movement, whose loosely translated name means Western
education is forbidden, has for years sown terror throughout Nigerias
northeast, then trained youths to attack Cameroon, the officer said.
They are now asking them to prove themselves on home ground, he said.
On
Wednesday, the Islamists murdered nine passengers on a bus and a
soldier in a separate vehicle in a remote northern town, according to
Cameroons state radio and local paramilitary police.
Precise
figures are unavailable on how many young Cameroonians have been
recruited by Boko Haram, but security sources estimate the number to be
in the hundreds.
In April, a local police
inspector said that close to 200 young people aged 15-19 years were
recruited in just two months in Kolofata, a small border town in the Far
North.
- Recruitment drive -
Now,
the same inspector says the recruits have completed their training.
Some have recently returned to their villages before going to the front.
The
jihadist recruitment drive coincides with an increase in attacks within
Cameroon including one particularly brazen operation that targeted the
countrys deputy prime minister, Amadou Ali.
At
a recent meeting, Amadou Ali said he had a list of 450 young people
from Kolofata (his hometown) who were recruited by Boko Haram, according
to the police officer.
The warning from
Ali, a prominent figure in Cameroons fight against Boko Haram, proved to
be a prescient one when militants attacked his home and a number of
others in Kolofata on July 27.
Ali was
absent at the time, but his wife was abducted along with a dozen other
people. The sultan of Kolofata, Seiny Boukar Lamine, his wife and their
five children were also among the hostages.
At least 15 people, including soldiers and police, were killed. Witnesses said around 200 militants were involved in the raids.
Children
from the village (of Kolofata) and the region were among the attackers,
said an anonymous source close to the deputy prime minister.
The
ease with which the perpetrators were moving in the town, where they
controlled the streets, and the precision with which they attacked the
homes of the deputy prime minister and the sultan reinforce our belief
that some Cameroonians were in their ranks, the same source said.
The police officer also said there was evidence to suggest the same.
There were Kolofata guys among them, he said.
Several witnesses said the attackers spoke in Kanuri, in English, in Hausa, in Arabic and curiously in French, he added.
- Drugged and manipulated -
French
is common in Cameroon, which was once a colony of France. The other
languages are spoken on both sides of the border with Nigeria, which was
once under British rule.
Children from Kolofata were conscripted, drugged, manipulated and sent against their own city, the policeman added.
Boko Harams campaign to involve itself in Cameroon has worried officials there and prompted fears that violence may spread.
The
police officer warned that the Islamist group has many supporters in
the Far North region one of the countrys poorest and least educated
areas. Analysts believe attacks could spread beyond the Far North.
Boko
Haram has long considered the Kolofata region, close to the Nigerian
border, as a haven for its activities, and as a route for smuggling
weapons.
In 2012, the group started to
launch raids inside northern Cameroon, mainly at Fotokol, Makary and
Kousseri Dabanga, but these remained isolated incidents.
After
the kidnapping of a French family in February 2013, Boko Haram stepped
up attacks on Cameroonian soil, turning the area into a combat zone,
though the family was freed two months later.
In
response to mounting violence, Cameroons President Paul Biya sent his
army chief north to beef up the forces. More than 1,000 soldiers have
been deployed, including troops of the elite Rapid intervention
Battalion.
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