MAIDUGURI, Nigeria—Thousands of members of Nigeria’s home-grown Islamic extremist Boko Haram group strike across the border in Cameroon, with coordinated attacks on border towns, a troop convoy and a major barracks.
Farther north, Boko Haram employs recruits from Chad to enforce its control in northeastern Nigerian towns and cities.
In Niger, the government has declared a “humanitarian crisis” and appealed for international aid to help tens of thousands of Nigerian refugees driven from their homes by the insurgency.
These recent events show how neighboring countries are increasingly being drawn into Nigeria’s Islamic uprising. Thousands of people have been killed in Nigeria’s 5-year insurgency and some 1.6 million people driven from their homes.
“We are concerned about the increasing regionalization of Boko Haram,” said Comfort Ero, Africa director for the International Crisis Group.
On Sunday, Cameroon’s army announced it had broken up a Boko Haram training camp in the Mayo-Danay district in the country’s Far North region. The army was looking for other hideouts in the area, said Jean-Pierre Mbida, a soldier with the Rapid Intervention Battalion tasked with fighting the insurgents.
“We will continue monitoring the area in the hope of uncovering any other Boko Haram hideouts and training grounds,” he added.
