Local Editor

At least eight people were killed and about 100 others were kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram militants in an overnight raid on a village near Cameroon's northern border, a local government and a military source said.

Tchakarmari, the village targeted early on Tuesday, lies north of Maroua, where dozens of people were killed in a series of suicide bombings by the Nigerian Takfiri group last month.

"Residents said the attackers headed back to Nigeria where Cameroon is not allowed to pursue them," the local government source in the Far North region said.

A senior military officer deployed as part of a Cameroonian military operation aimed at curbing the spillover of violence from Boko Haram's stronghold in northeastern Nigeria said the attackers had crossed over from Nigeria shortly after midnight.

After the spate of suicide bombings in July, Cameroon's government announced plans to send an additional 2,000 troops to boost security in the Far North region.

The regional governor had banned burqas since the attacks, which were carried out by veiled female bombers. And over the weekend, authorities rounded up and expelled about 2,800 Nigerians living in Cameroon without the required documents.

Cameroon had already deployed some 7,000 troops as part of a regional force which includes Chad, Niger and Nigeria to try to stop Boko Haram's six-year insurgency.

In a contrasting notion, Cameroon authorities have arrested two suspected members of Nigerian group Boko Haram disguised as female refugees. The men, who were carrying explosives in their luggage, were stopped at the Minawao refugee camp in the north of the country, near the border with Nigeria.

Cameroon's government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said the men were arrested on Monday [3 August] and were being interrogated as the country deported some 3,000 Nigerian refugees who do not have identity cards and refuse to stay in refugee camps.

Bakary also said authorities arrested a number of foreigners suspected of collaborating with Boko Haram, which had killed some 20,000 people in northern Nigeria and neighboring countries since its insurgency became violent in 2009.

Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency chairman Haruna Hamman Furo was quoted as saying some 12,000 Nigerians were expected to arrive from Cameroon. The arrests and deportation come as Cameroon announced it would send some 2,000 military reinforcements to the north, following deadly attacks blamed on Boko Haram that left hundreds dead in recent weeks.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team