Boko Haram militants keep mounting terror attacks on Nigeria and its neighbours of Cameroon, Niger and Chad, days to the take-off of the Multi-national task force set up to confront them.
Having in recent days attacked Nigeria, Chad and Niger, the militants struck at a weakly guarded Kamouna village, north of the country and killed 10 persons, injured 11, according to L’oeil du Sahel, a newspaper that keeps constant tab on the insurgency in the area, which added that seven of the dead were burnt.
There were seven soldiers on guard duty, but about 80 militants mounted an attack on the village on Sunday and simply overwhelmed the guards.
L’oeil du sahel all the houses of the village, approximately 300, have been burned down.
The nine children reported dead by parents have been found in the bush. And the Cameroonian army has evacuated the surviving villagers, L’oeil du Sahel said.
News agencies had reported that over 20 people were killed in the attack.
Kamouna is located near Lake Chad in the northern strip of Cameroon that lies between Nigeria and Chad.
Pastor Edward Ngosu, a Nigerian missionary who has been based in the village for four years said the overwhelmed soldiers began shooting in the air to scare the attackers” but were unsuccessful.
Residents had asked the military for more protection last week after suspected Boko Haram fighters conducted a raid near the village and stole livestock, said Bachirou Ahmad, another resident.
Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary said Monday he had no information on the attack.
Last week, bombs planted at a bar in north Cameroon by suspected Boko Haram fighters killed 14 people.
Neighboring Chad, another contributor to the regional campaign, has seen three separate attacks in its capital, N’Djamena, since mid-June.