Boko Haram increases attacks around Lake Chad

" It is obvious that it is Boko Haram who is responsible ". At least 16 people were killed during the night from Saturday to Sunday, in an attack attributed to jihadists of the Boko Haram group against a camp for displaced people in the far north of Cameroon, according to Mahamat Chetima Abba, mayor of Mayo -Moskota. This commune is more or less permanent home to local populations fleeing attacks by the Boko Haram group, born in northeastern Nigeria in 2009.

Read also: Chad: at least ten civilians killed in a Boko Haram attack

“ There had been relative calm for a few weeks but they took advantage of their knowledge of the terrain to bypass the surveillance points and the positions of the security forces. They surprised us , ”explained the mayor, also the traditional chief of the area.

" I counted 15 bodies, some of which were dismembered, on site and in the hospital mortuary, where the wounded were evacuated, " said a witness to the attack who asked to remain anonymous.

On Friday, Boko Haram had already carried out an attack in Chad, killing at least ten civilians. Seven others had been kidnapped. " Around three in the morning, elements of Boko Haram attacked Tenana, killing two women and eight men " from this village in the Lake region, a border area of ​​Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon, according to an officer, quoted by AFP on condition of anonymity. " They kidnapped seven men, looted and burned the village before withdrawing, " added the same source.

Isolated attacks

In recent months, few clashes between the Cameroonian army and the jihadist group have been reported. However, a multitude of small attacks against civilians in the villages, with thefts of cattle and food, took place. Last June, 52 attacks against civilians were recorded in this region, according to the United Nations.

Since 2015, the four countries bordering Lake Chad have been fighting against these jihadist groups within a Joint Multinational Force (FMM). But in recent months, its effectiveness has been increasingly discussed. Attacks continue in all of the FMM countries. Chad launched a major military operation in March, claiming to have driven Boko Haram from its territory. But in early July, at least eight of its soldiers perished in an attack on its soil.

Read also: Niger says at least 75 "Boko Haram terrorists" were killed in two two operations

The northwest of Nigeria is also, ten years after the start of the insurgency, still scarred by the attacks. More than 36,000 people have been killed there since 2009, and more than two million people still cannot return to their homes.