Yaounde - The Nigerian Islamist movement Boko Haram has recruited
and trained hundreds of young Cameroonians to carry out attacks in
their own country, according to the police and civilians.
As the militant group seeks to gain a foothold in the poor, rural
north of Cameroon, experts warn that violence may spread beyond
border areas to other parts of the central African country.
"Boko Haram has recruited many young people" from Cameroon's
Far North region, a police officer from the area told AFP on
condition of anonymity.

The hardline movement, whose loosely translated name means
"Western education is forbidden", has for years sown terror
throughout Nigeria's northeast, then trained youths "to attack
Cameroon", the officer said.
"They are now asking them to prove themselves on home ground", he
said.
On Wednesday, the Islamists murdered nine passengers on a bus and
a soldier in a separate vehicle in a remote northern town, according
to Cameroon's state radio and local paramilitary police.
Also read: Sanusi accused of sponsoring Boko Haram
Precise figures are unavailable on how many young Cameroonians
have been recruited by Boko Haram, but security sources estimate
the number to be in the hundreds.
In April, a local police inspector said that close to 200 young people,
aged 15-19 years were recruited in just two months in Kolofata, a
small border town in the Far North.
Recruitment drive

Now, the same inspector says the recruits have completed their
training. "Some have recently returned to their villages before going
to the front."
The jihadist recruitment drive coincides with an increase in attacks
within Cameroon, including one particularly brazen operation that
targeted the country's deputy prime minister, Amadou Ali.
"At a recent meeting, Amadou Ali said he had 'a list of 450 young
people' from Kolofata [his hometown] who were recruited by Boko
Haram", according to the police officer.
The warning from Ali, a prominent figure in Cameroon's fight against
Boko Haram, proved to be a prescient one when militants attacked
his home and a number of others in Kolofata on 27 July.
Ali was absent at the time, but his wife was abducted along with a
dozen other people. The sultan of Kolofata, Seiny Boukar Lamine, his
wife and their five children were also among the hostages.
At least 15 people, including soldiers and police, were killed.
Witnesses said around 200 militants were involved in the raids.
"Children from the village [of Kolofata] and the region were among
the attackers", said an anonymous source close to the deputy prime
minister.
"The ease with which the perpetrators were moving in the town,
where they controlled the streets, and the precision with which they
attacked the homes of the deputy prime minister and the sultan
reinforce our belief that some Cameroonians were in their ranks", the
same source said.
The police officer also said there was evidence to suggest the same.
"There were Kolofata guys among them", he said.
"Several witnesses said the attackers spoke in Kanuri, in English, in
Hausa, in Arabic and curiously in French," he added.
'Drugged, manipulated'
French is common in Cameroon, which was once a colony of France.
The other languages are spoken on both sides of the border with
Nigeria, which was once under British rule.
"Children from Kolofata were conscripted, drugged, manipulated and
sent against their own city", the policeman added.
Boko Haram's campaign to involve itself in Cameroon has worried
officials there and prompted fears that violence may spread.
The police officer warned that the Islamist group has "many
supporters" in the Far North region, one of the country's poorest and
least educated areas. Analysts believe attacks could spread beyond the
Far North.

Boko Haram has long considered the Kolofata region, close to the
Nigerian border, as a haven for its activities, and as a route for
smuggling weapons.
In 2012, the group started to launch raids inside northern Cameroon,
mainly at Fotokol, Makary and Kousseri Dabanga, but these remained
isolated incidents.
After the kidnapping of a French family in February 2013, Boko
Haram stepped up attacks on Cameroonian soil, turning the area into
a combat zone, though the family was freed two months later.
In response to mounting violence, Cameroon's President Paul Biya
sent his army chief north to beef up the forces. More than 1 000
soldiers have been deployed, including troops of the elite Rapid
intervention Battalion.

SOURCE- News24

This is what happens when a deadly scourge is handled with a political glove.

are dis children coerced or handsomely paid?

Bk been recruiting since 2004
else why them no day finish
Ooo n by the way
pishure of the boko haram people recruiting, pishure of the cameroon recruitees..
Pishure of the training
pishure of how you take know.
Or....idonbelievit

Biya will listen to Jona

thought the cankerworms said APC is boko haram? so APC now has an agenda in Cameroon?

its time for Ebele to sit up and do his job. Nigeria is sitting on a time bomb!!!

when NA slits their throat no cry ooo!