Cameroonian soldiers accused of killing dozens of civilians while chasing terrorists

No fewer than 40 villagers of Gwadale border community under Gwoza local government area of Borno state have been killed Monday, January 25, as Cameroonian soldiers opened fire supposed fleeing Boko Haram terrorists, witnesses said.

According to their accounts, the soldiers, who are manning the borders shared by Cameroon and Nigeria, started shooting recklessly in the name of Chasing terrorists believed to have ran into Nigeria.

“I still have my family, including my eldest son, there in Gwadale. But those that called me yesterday using the Cameroonian mobile network said most of the corpses are still left unattended”, Muhammad Abba, a former ward secretary of Ashigashiya village, whose family is still trapped in the border area said.

READ: Soldiers kill 17 Boko Haram terrorists in Cameroon

He continued: “One of my brothers who survived the shootout said the Cameroonian soldiers arrived Gwadale in early hours of Monday, and began to shoot sporadically. Most of our people who ran out of their houses in fear were killed by bullets; up till now, as they said, corpses still litter the grounds with no one attending to them, because those remaining in the village are aged men and women.

“I have not heard from my eldest son since the attack; and those that called said they had ran into Ashigashiya,” he said.

Also confirming the shootings, the spokesman of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria and a native of Gwoza local government area said; “our people are being killed by Boko Haram and Cameroonian soldiers, yet our government is watching.”

Ashigashiya is another village that was attacked by the same Cameroonian troops last week.