(CNN) — Boko Haram militants killed more than 30 people and wounded 145 others in attacks early Thursday (September 3) on a market and infirmary in northern Cameroon, a military official said.
The bloodshed once again demonstrates the Islamist extremist group’s wrath and reach in Africa.
The terrorist group’s members crossed over from Nigeria, where Boko Haram is based, and struck a market in the town Kerawa, said Col. Didier Badjeck, a spokesman for Cameroon’s military.
The militants also attacked an infirmary near a Cameroonian military camp, according to Badjeck.
Boko Haram began in the mid-2000s with a stated aim of imposing its strict version of Sharia law across Nigeria, which is split between a majority Muslim north and a mostly Christian south.
The terrorist group has resorted to some of the most abhorrent tactics imaginable to achieve its goals. These include bombing marketplaces, churches, mosques, and other public gathering spots as well as mass kidnappings, the most notorious being last year’s abduction of over 200 girls from a school in the northeastern Nigerian city of Chibok. Those girls’ fate remains a mystery.
Yet Boko Haram hasn’t confined itself to Nigeria’s borders.
Its fighters have also launched lethal attacks on sites in several other western and central African countries, including Niger, Benin, and Chad.
This also includes Cameroon, who is one of the African nations who pledged last winter to contribute to an 8,700-strong regional military force to combat Boko Haram.
This story was first published on CNN.com, “Boko Haram crosses border, kills over 30 in northern Cameroon.”
