Cameroon’s Special Forces have launched an anti Boko Haram operation in the Lake Chad Basin.  Cameroon Intelligence Report learnt the operation started on Friday and did involve Sector 1 of the Joint Multinational Force based in Mora in the Far North region supported by Operation Alpha and Emergence 4.

A reporter with a sister publication Cameroon Concord News revealed that the current operation is the largest ever conducted by the Cameroon military since the outbreak of the war against the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram. Boko Haram has reportedly pledged allegiance to the Organization of Islamic State and now refers to itself as “Islamic State in West Africa”.

The last major operation carried out by the Cameroon army against Boko Haram was on the 10^th and 11^th of May 2016 in the Madawaya locality deep inside Nigerian territory that resulted in the neutralization and the complete destruction of three Boko Haram camps. The Emir of Boko Haram who was the movement’s formidable war leader was captured including five of his fellow fighters.

We gathered that during the May 2016 operation, 58 Boko Haram militants were killed; several weapons recovered, including three AK47 assault rifles, 02 assault rifles FAL and 18 hunting weapons.
This new operation in the Lake Chad area was triggered by the authorities in Yaounde following that led by the Chadian army with the support of soldiers from the Republic of Niger.

Four Cameroonian civilians were killed on June 23rd in an attack attributed to Boko Haram. The Boko Haram incursion took place at Gouzoudoum in the district of Kolofata and Kaldjiwa in the district of Mora in the department of Mayo-Sava region in the Far North region of Cameroon.

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Sama Ernest, Rita Akana (Cameroon Concord News Group)