Two Cameroonian soldiers deployed to Nigeria were killed late Saturday in a Boko Haram attack in northeastern Borno state, two Nigerian military sources said Sunday.
The insurgents, on foot and in several trucks fitted with machine guns, attacked Nigerian soldiers outside the town of Wulgo. Cameroonian soldiers were then also attacked after deploying from across the border to assist.
“Two CDF (Cameroonian Defence Force) soldiers were killed in the 40-minute gunfight with the Boko Haram terrorists,” a Nigerian military source said.
“Another three CDF soldiers and a Nigerian soldier were injured in the fight,” said the military officer, in an account confirmed by a second Nigerian military source.
An armoured vehicle belonging to the Nigerian army and two Boko Haram trucks were destroyed in the fight while “several” jihadists were “neutralized”, the second military officer said.
The jihadists launched the attack from the nearby Wulgo forest, a known Boko Haram hideout.
The jihadist insurgency in northeast Nigeria has killed 36,000 people and displaced around two million from their homes since 2009, according to the United Nations.
The violence associated with Boko Haram and its splinter group ISWAP, the Islamic State West Africa Province, has spread to neighbouring Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
Earlier this month, ISWAP claimed in a statement that it used two vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices, killing and wounding 30 soldiers near Wulgo, a claim that AFP could not independently verify.
In 2015, a regional military coalition, the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) was tasked with fighting the insurgents.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari replaced the country’s top military commanders in January in a sudden overhaul after months of pressure over deteriorating security.
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