Cameroon: Muslims murder 12 people in jihad raid on fishing island, shoot indiscriminately and loot villages

Why call the attackers “Muslims”? Because Islam is the foundation of their motivation and the explanation of their goals. If you asked the attackers why they carried out this attack, they would explain it wholly and solely in terms of Islam.

“Cameroon Says Military Deployed After New Militant Attack Kills at Least a Dozen,” by Moki Edwin Kindzeka, VOA News, August 3, 2023:

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — Cameroon said Thursday that at least 12 people have been killed in new attacks by Boko Haram in Darak, a fishing island on Cameroon’s northern border with Chad and Nigeria. Military officials say troops have been deployed to stop more incursions and attacks by the Nigeria-based insurgent group….

Government troops say civilians have escaped to safer locations on the island. The military says ongoing sporadic attacks make it difficult to establish a total number of casualties.

Midjiyawa Bakari, the governor of Cameroon’s Far North region where Darak is located, said this week’s wave of attacks is devastating to the psychological and physical well-being of civilians in Darak, who have not experienced Boko Haram atrocities for more than a year. He said he has asked the military to immediately collaborate with local militias and put an end to the infiltration which killing and looting jihadists have been carrying out in Darak this week.

Bakari said Cameroon has remobilized militias and civilians to assist troops fighting the jihadists by reporting strangers and armed men hiding in border towns and villages to government troops.

The government said heavily armed militants arrived in Darak on Monday on motorboats through the vast Lake Chad. Eight of the 12 corpses already found have been identified as fishers in the lake, the government said. Civilians say at least three villages on the island have been attacked in the previous 48 hours, with attackers shooting indiscriminately, and looting….