Suspected Boko Haram Militants Attack Chinese Workers In Cameroon

[HuffingtonPost]

By Tansa Musa                

YAOUNDE, May 17 (Reuters) - Suspected Boko Haram rebels from  Nigeria attacked a Chinese work site in northern Cameroon on  Friday and at least 10 people are believed to have been  kidnapped, the regional governor said on Saturday.                

The Chinese embassy in Yaounde confirmed the attack at a  site near the town on Waza, 20 km (12 miles) from the Nigerian  border close to the Sambisa forest, a Boko Haram stronghold.                

The Islamist group kidnapped more than 200 girls from a  school on the Nigerian side of the border last month and  Nigerian troops backed by foreign units are searching the area  around the forest for them.                

Friday's incident began when power was cut in the evening. A  five-hour gunfight followed, a guard at the Waza National Park  told Reuters.                

"Some of us decided to hide in the forest with the animals,"  the guard said, requesting anonymity.                

The governor of Far North Region, Augustine Fonka Awa, said  he believed Boko Haram had carried out the attack. Authorities  are investigating reports that at least one Cameroon soldier was  killed and 10 people were abducted, he said.                

The Chinese state new agency Xinhua quoted Chinese officials  as saying one person was injured.                

The Chinese embassy suspended visits to the area.                

"For companies operating in the northern part of Cameroon  in particular, they should instantly start security contingency  plans," the embassy said in a statement.                

At least two Chinese enterprises operate in the region.  Xinhua said an engineering unit of state-run construction  company Sinohydro, which is repairing roads, operated the camp.                

Yan Chang Logone Development Holding Company, a subsidiary  of China's Yanchang Petroleum, is exploring for oil.                

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.                

West African leaders were meeting in Paris on Saturday to  improve cooperation in the fight against Boko Haram and other  militant groups.                

Nigerian authorities say Cameroon has not done enough to  secure its border because Boko Haram has been using the   sparsely populated Far North region as a transit route for  weapons and as a rear base for attacks in northeastern Nigeria.                

Cameroon said in March it would send 700 soldiers to its  northeastern border as part of regional efforts to tackle the  armed group.                

Outrage over the kidnapping of the schoolgirls has prompted  Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, criticized at home for his  government's slow response, to accept U.S., British and French  intelligence help in the hunt for the girls.      (Additional reporting by Anne-Mireille Nzouankeu in Yaounde,  Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Bate Felix in Abuja and Chen Aizhu in  Beijing, Writing by Bate Felix, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Source: huffingtonpost.com