THE wife of Cameroon's vice-premier has been kidnapped and at least three people killed in an attack by Boko Haram militants on in the northern town of Kolofata, Cameroon officials have said.
A local religious leader, or lamido, named Seini Boukar Lamine, who is also the town's mayor, was kidnapped as well, in a separate attack on his home.
The Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram has stepped up cross-border attacks in Cameroon in recent weeks as Cameroon has deployed troops to the region, joining international efforts to combat the militants.
Government spokesman Issa Tchiroma said: "The home of Vice Prime Minister Amadou Ali in Kolofata came under a savage attack from Boko Haram militants.
"They unfortunately took away his wife. They also attacked the lamido's residence and he was also kidnapped." He also confirmed that three people died in the attack.
The vice prime minister, at home for celebrations connected to the Muslim month of Ramadan, was taken to a neighbouring town by security officials.
"The situation is very critical here now, and as I am talking to you the Boko Haram elements are still in Kolofata town in a clash with our soldiers," said the army's local commander Colonel Felix Nji Formekong, based in the regional headquarters Maroua.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article