Kolofata attack was a warning to Amadou Ali

According to sources, members of the Islamist sect wanted to give a message to the Deputy Prime Minister, Amadou Ali, whose wife and a dozen other people are still in hostages, in addition to the deaths of civilian and military men.

The reasons for the attack on Kolofata have been mentioned during contacts between the Cameroonian army and members of the Islamic sect for the return of the bodies of the fallen soldiers during the fight in Bargaram and Kamouna a few days before the attack on Kolofata.

"They justified the Kolofata attack by the fact that, Deputy Prime Minister Amadou Ali, had failed in its commitments", indicates a Cameroonian military source, quoted by L’œil du Sahel. The source recalls that Amadou Ali had been at the heart of the negotiations that led to the release of the three monks abducted in April in the locality of Kolofata.

Boko Haram members explained that the Cameroonian Deputy had committed that 25 of them would be released in Exchange for the hostages. "Some were rather heavily sentenced by a court. They felt betrayed," says another source.

Indeed, 22 Islamist members of the sect were sentenced by the military court of Maroua. Three days later, Boko Haram attacked Kolofata, targeted the home of Amadou Ali. His wife is still held hostage. Members of the terrorist group have even claimed that the attack was targeted directly at Amadou Ali who came to celebrate Ramadan in his village.