Cameroonian army liberates 150 Nigerian Boko Haram hostages

On 2 and 7 January 2017, the Cameroonian army surrounded again the town of Ngoshe, one of the strongholds of the Boko Haram sect in Nigeria, the Cameroonian Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma, revealed during a press conference organised this past 10 January.

According to this government member, this operation again resulted in important losses for the Boko Haram Islamists. We learned that their bomb manufacturing workshops were destroyed, and 150 Nigerian hostages held in captivity for months were freed by the Cameroonian defence forces, who unfortunately lost three soldiers during the clashes.

This is the 2nd time that the Cameroonian army launches a major attack on the Nigerian town of Ngoshe, where a Boko Haram command base was located at the time. Indeed, in February 2016, during the “Arrow Five” operation, Cameroonian soldiers neutralised 162 Boko Haram terrorists in this town and destroyed four bomb factories.

The Cameroonian defence forces then lost two officers. They were Lieutenant-Colonel Kwene Ekwele Beltus Honoré, 39 years, and Captain Pipwoh Yari Emmanuel, 31.