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Boko Haram leaders arrested in Cameroon, captives freed

Boko Haram

Cameroon’s government said on Saturday that multinational forces fighting the Islamist extremists -Boko Haram – had arrested five of the group’s leaders and freed 18 women and 28 children.

The government spokesperson Issa Tchiroma said the forces raked through the insurgent’s bases in the northern Madawaya forest earlier this month when the women and children were found.

Good News: Five #BokoHaram leaders arrested in northern Madawaya forest, #Cameroon & dozens of hostages (mostly women & children) freed.

— Amb. Smail Chergui (@AU_Chergui) May 14, 2016

Boko Haram had set up camp in the forest after fleeing another military operation in neighbouring Nigeria and had been training captive young girls and women as suicide bombers.

A similar operation mobilised by Cameroon and Nigeria killed at least 92 militants and freed close to 900 hostages in February.

The news come after a summit in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, where several leaders from Central and West Africa, France, the UK and the US met to develop a strategy to tackle governance, security, development, and socio-economic and humanitarian dimensions of the Boko Haram crisis.

President Buhari with his guests during the lunch banquet for visiting Heads of State ahead of #RSSAbuja, today pic.twitter.com/z4VJlPk3dk

— President Buhari (@NGRPresident) May 14, 2016

Agencies