Nigeria and Cameroon fighting Boko Haram

A raid by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram in the northern Nigeria town of Kummabza, June 21-22, resulted in the kidnapping of 60 girls and women and 30 boys. In April, a raid on the northeastern city of Chibok by Boko Haram resulted in the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls, almost all of whom are still missing (June ’14, pg. 16).

Boko Haram has also been blamed for a bomb blast that killed 21 people and injured 52 at a shopping center in the capital, Abuja, on June 25 and for a bomb that killed 18 and injured 55 in a market in Maiduguri on July 1.

To prevent Boko Haram from establishing a foothold in neighboring Cameroon, that country increased its military presence on its border with Nigeria. The Cameroonian military closed off a market in the far-north town of Maroua and arrested 40 suspected Boko Haram militants in mid-June. 

Outside the northern town of Mora, the Cameroon military attacked a Boko Haram gathering that was disguised as a wedding on June 25, killing 10 suspected militants, arresting 50 and seizing vehicles and weapons.