Yaounde – 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 Cameroon’s 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 Nigeria’s 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 Cameroon’s 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…
South Africa Today Africa – West Africa Cameroon News
