YAOUNDE: Came­roon’s army has attacked the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram, shelling one of their camps across the border and killing “many” fighters, a security official said on Thursday.

The source said the army had shelled the camp on Wednesday evening, two days after the jihadist group had seized control of the town of Gamboru Ngala on the border with Cameroon.

“It was tanks stationed on the frontier at Fotokol (on Cameroon’s side of the border) that shelled the camp on the other side,” the source said.

“Seen from Fotokol this morning, Gamboru looks empty and smells of death,” he added. “Nob­ody knows how many Boko Haram members were killed, but it isobvious that many were.” The shelling was confirmed by a local police officer.

“These were abandoned houses that they have occupied since they entered Gamboru. We think they still control the town, because there are many of them and they didn’t all gather in the same place,” he said.

Fotokol had returned to calm by Wednesday following days of panic as residents and Nigerian security forces fled there to escape the Boko Haram attack on Gamboru.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2014