Cameroonian villagers block a fold of Boko Haram

Eight Cameroonian civilians have been killed in the far north of Cameroon while protecting their cattle from being rustled by the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram fighters, "Eight civilians" and "nine Boko Haram" were killed Tuesday at Gaboua in an attack by Islamist fighters who wanted to steal livestock and met stiff resistance from the population, said a security source in the region.

On Tuesday around 4 p.m., "a score of Boko Haram attacked the village of Gaboua", in the District of Koza.

"Populations of Nguetchewe (nearby village 10 km) rallied towards the direction taken by the Islamists who took"70 oxen" and "burned houses" in Gaboua, she said." The villagers blocked the road and prevented the passage of the group. There was a confrontation" in which seven villagers and nine Boko Haram were killed.

According a close source, the inhabitants were equipped with "clubs, machetes, bows and Spears". The soldiers stationed at Nguetchewe then arrived as reinforcements and were able to reclaim 'four arms' and 70 oxen stolen by the attackers.

A source close to the Cameroonian security services reported "seven villagers" and "several elements of Boko Haram" were killed during this attack.

It is in this area that french Catholic priest Georges Vandenbeusch was abducted late 2013 in an attack attributed to Boko Haram. For months, the Nigerian Islamist group had multiplied incursions in the far north of Cameroon border of Nigeria, committing massacres in the villages, laying of landmines on roads and is taking now directly in the positions of the army.