Thousands flee Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria for Cameroon
Sustained Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria 's
far northeast have forced thousands of people from their homes, swamping towns
in the north of neighbouring Cameroon ,
authorities said on Sunday.
"We've been flooded here in Mora by Cameroonians and
Nigerians fleeing Boko Haram," a police officer in the northern town told
AFP on condition of anonymity.
"The day before yesterday (Friday), there were already
more than 10,000 people in Mora. Not a day goes by without more people coming."
The number of internally displaced people in Nigeria and those who have crossed its borders
into Cameroon , Niger and Chad because of the militant
violence has been increasing, with no end sight to the insurgency.
The United Nations' humanitarian office (OCHA) said on
August 5 that Boko Haram attacks have forced nearly 650,000 people from their
homes in the northeast states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
The Cameroonian police officer said registration of the
displaced had begun in Mora, while the nearby town of Kolofata had seen more than 6,000 arrive.
"People are everywhere: in schools, under trees and in
the markets," he added.
"They're all coming from (Cameroonian and Nigerian)
villages in the Kerawa area."
Kerawa straddles the border and has come under attack in
recent days by Boko Haram, forcing the residents to flee on foot.
- Killing people 'like chickens' -
The Islamists, who have been fighting since 2009 to create a
hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria ,
have taken control of the Nigerian part of the town and shelled the police
station on the Cameroon
side, the officer said.
Gamboru Ngala residents who fled across the border to the Cameroon town of Fotokol said on Saturday that the militants
had begun to kill people "like chickens," despite initially targeting
only the police and military.
The spokesman for the Roman Catholic diocese of Maiduguri also claimed militant fighters had carried out
atrocities against Christians in the town of Madagali , in Adamawa state, but there was no
independent corroboration.
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