Dozens kidnapped in Cameroon village raid

An overnight raid by suspected Boko Haram militants in northern Cameroon on Tuesday has left at least nine people dead. More than 100 others were taken captive.

The attack took place at Tchakarmari, close to the border with Nigeria, shortly after midnight on Tuesday.

A Cameroon military official said the heavily armed attackers had crossed over from Nigeria in trucks before fleeing back across the border following their assault.

Among those kidnapped were children and teenagers, another official said.

Village chief Kadzamare Amin told the Associated Press: "They burned at least 15 houses and slaughtered six men and three women whose corpses we are still to bury." He saw dozens of people being kidnapped, he added.

This is not the first time the militant fighters have kidnapped local residents. Last year, hundreds of girls and young women were taken captive from near Boko Haram's base in northeastern Nigeria. Despite an international outcry, the schoolgirls have yet to be found.

Tchakarmari is less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Nigeria's Borno State, where the jihadist faction originates.

Cameroon regularly targeted

Last month, northern Cameroon was hit by a series of suicide bombings blamed on the Islamist group, which killed dozens of people.

Boko Haram seeks to build a strict Islamist state in northern Nigeria and has captured large areas of the country. It regularly carries out attacks in Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Thousands of people have been killed over the past six years and more than 1.5 million people displaced.

The jihadist group has yet to claim responsibility for Tuesday's attack.

Cameroon has deployed a 7,000-strong force as part of a regional effort to counter the jihadist group's dominance in the region. Last month, the government ordered an additional 2,000 troops to boost security.

Meanwhile, Cameroon officials confirmed that they had deported more than 3,000 Nigerians, disguised as refugees, who were arrested at a camp in northern Cameroon on Monday.

Many of those detained had explosives hidden in the their luggage, government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said.

mm/cmk (AP, Reuters)