24 killed in an attack on Cameroon Island

Around 300 suspected Boko Haram militants swarmed onto an island on Lake Chad in Cameroon’s far north on Sunday and killed 24 people, including 16 Cameroonian soldiers stationed at military outposts, officials said on Wednesday.

The death toll in the district of Darak, about 1,000 km (600 miles) from the capital Yaounde, is one of the worst atrocities carried out by Boko Haram in Cameroon in years, a military source said.

The assailants arrived in boats and attacked the island’s eight military outposts, Darak mayor Ali Ramat told Reuters. The Defence Ministry said 64 Boko Haram militants were also killed in a gunfight that lasted hours.

Boko Haram have been fighting for a decade to carve out an Islamic caliphate based in Nigeria. The violence, which has cost the lives of 30,000 people and displaced millions more, has frequently spilled over into neighbouring Cameroon, Niger and Chad.