Suspected Boko Haram fighters kidnap around 80 in Cameroon

YAOUNDE - Suspected Boko Haram Islamist fighters from Nigeria have kidnapped around 80 people, many of them children, and killed three others on Sunday in a cross-border attack on villages in northern Cameroon, army and government officials said.

A senior army officer deployed to northern Cameroon said the early morning attack had targeted the village of Mabass. Around 30 adults, mainly herders, and some 50 children aged between 10 and 15 years were taken by the assailants.

Government spokesman Issa Tchiroma confirmed the attack, in which he said three people had been killed, as well as the kidnappings, but was not able to say with certainty how many people had been taken in the raid.