At least 12 Cameroonian soldiers lost their lives on Monday night following a brutal assault by armed militants near the country’s border with Nigeria, according to a statement from Cameroon’s Ministry of Defense.
The attack, which also left over a dozen soldiers injured, took place in the Lake Chad region close to the town of Wulgo, the ministry reported on Thursday. While no group immediately claimed responsibility, officials suspect that the assailants were affiliated with Boko Haram or a splinter faction aligned with the Islamic State group.
Authorities highlighted the militants’ access to increasingly sophisticated weaponry and potential connections with transnational criminal networks as key factors that contributed to the scale of the assault.
READ MORE: Egypt and Saudi Arabia Lead as Indonesia’s Primary Date Suppliers for Ramadan
Boko Haram, which emerged in Nigeria in 2009, has waged a violent insurgency aimed at imposing its extreme interpretation of Islamic law while opposing Western-style education. The ongoing conflict has spilled across borders, affecting Nigeria’s neighbors, including Cameroon, Chad, and Niger.
The insurgency has claimed the lives of approximately 35,000 civilians and displaced over 2 million people in northeastern Nigeria alone, according to United Nations estimates. One of Boko Haram’s most infamous attacks was the 2014 mass abduction of 276 schoolgirls in Chibok, Nigeria, an incident that sparked global outrage.
Earlier this year, at least 40 people were killed in a separate attack attributed to Boko Haram militants in Nigeria, underscoring the persistent threat the group poses in the region.