Chinese taken by Boko Haram likely in Nigeria
Print Edition
THE 10 Chinese workers abducted by Boko Haram gunmen in Cameroon have most likely been taken back across the border to the Nigerian Islamist group’s strongholds, a police official said yesterday.
“We are almost certain that the 10 Chinese have been kidnapped and transferred to Nigeria. We have no fresh news about them,” the official told reporters.
“The search continues (in Cameroon) but apart from small pieces of information I can’t see what could come out of it since the attackers have left the country,” he said.
The official, who didn’t want to be named, added that all the helicopters that might have been used to survey the border area and help with the search were in the capital, Yaounde, ahead of the National Day military parade, which takes place tomorrow.
The celebrations were also the reason the unit of elite Cameroonian troops that usually guards the group of Chinese workers who were attacked late on Friday was not up to its usual strength.
Local officials said a large group of heavily armed Boko Haram fighters in five vehicles stormed the Chinese encampment on Friday night.
Chinese Embassy political counsellor Lu Qingjiang told Xinhua news agency that one worker was injured and 10 are missing.
Ten vehicles belonging to China’s state-run construction company Sinohydro, which is repairing roads in Cameroon, were also taken in the attack.
Lu called on the Cameroon authorities to “not put the lives of Chinese nationals missing in danger in case actions of liberation be launched,” the news agency reported.
Boko Haram has staged several attacks in northern Cameroon during its five-year fight to set up an Islamist state.
Last month, it attacked a police post killing two people. The rebels kidnapped a French family in February 2013.
Friday’s attack came as the presidents of Nigeria and neighboring states met in Paris to “declare war” on the organization.
The meeting was convened a month after the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls in northern Nigeria sparked international outrage.
French President Francois Hollande said at the meeting on Saturday that Boko Haram was becoming a threat to all of West and Central Africa.
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